Some Thoughts To Ponder

Some Thoughts To Ponder

[This is quite different from what I have been posting in this blog but I have the intuition that perhaps we all need to read this and ponder the results in our own lives. I think this fits in nicely with our normal praise and worship! The following is a result of attending a Bible study where, when the question was asked, "What is God?", I decided to write these few words.]

What Is God?

God is "Spirit." He is invisible to us on earth. We are limited by time and space. God is limitless!

Since God is "spirit" it is of the utmost importance that we have a viable connection to God through the Holy Spirit dwelling in fullness within each of us. How else can we be guided and taught without the Holy Spirit guiding and directing us. The Holy Spirit is "truth" and "light" and always speaks for the Father of truth. The Holy Spirit prays for us, directs us, comforts us, and guides us - He leads us into all righteousness. He loves us, like the Father loves us, and as the Son loves us. What greater reason is there to have the full blessing of the Holy Spirit within each of us? Pray that we listen to the Holy Spirit speaking. He is our spiritual link with God and the Lord Jesus. He will insure that through our obedience and love of Christ that we become holy as God is holy and pure!

God is very large. All space is contained within Him. He surrounds His entire creation including the stars, planets, and heavens above. His largeness allows God to be everywhere at all times. He controls and maintains His creation. God is kind, patient and loving, but God is also sinless. God allows mankind to flounder around in his own pride and selfishness until such a time when God has had enough of our foolishness, and shows His wrath against all sin. Before the beginning of time, God and the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit decided the fate of God's creation. In all past, present, and future centuries, God continues to control and insure that the outcome of His creation will be exactly what His plans govern since before time began.

God is also "light." (the light that overcomes darkness). How bright is God's light? Think of the sun shining down upon the earth. If we look at the sun without eye protection (which we certainly should not do), we would be temporarily blinded by its brightness. God is Light one hundred times brighter than the sun! This is why God would not allow Moses to see His face. God placed Moses in the cleft of the rock and put hand over Moses' eyes as He passed by. Moses, the trusted servant of the Lord, was allowed only to see God's backside!

God is "eternal." God has no beginning and no ending. Eternal always - without end.

God is "holy." What is "holy?" A short list on the meaning of holy is: pure, righteous, absolute love, kindness, trustworthy, truthful, merciful, just, filled with grace and mercy, honest, jealous, wrathful (when the time comes to remove sin of this world), omnipotent (all powerful), omnipresent (everywhere at all times), omniscient (all knowledge in times past, times present, and times in the future). God's attributes work together. None work against another. God can bless our obedience, our dependence upon Him, and He does so by grace. At God's timing, He will replace His love with His wrath. When God sees that the world will not respond to His continual calling in love, God will turn His love into wrath to rid His creation of the sinfulness of mankind. At that time it will be too late for prayer and forgiveness.

Because God is holy He can never allow any unholiness into heaven. There will be nothing in heaven which is not holy. (More on this shortly.)

God created mankind in His image. We were to be led by God into His wonderful likeness and dependence upon Him for our daily needs. In "His image" means the inward part of us, the spirit within each of us placed there at our birth. It was God's eternal plan that we humans would be taught by God the things of God and the nature of heaven. After the fall of Adam and Eve, when they ate of the fruit in the Garden of Eden, their spirit within each of them died. (The Spirit that was "breathed" into them by God, thus making them the only created beings that had a God-given Spirit). Since that time, no human being has an "alive" Spirit within them. That resulted in our now following our soul which is controlled by the devil. Our spirit must be brought back to its rightful place within again. How do we do that? When we realize that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour and when we truly repent of all our sins, our spirit begins to glow again - to come back to life. The Spirit of God and the flesh are in a constant battle for the new person in Christ. It takes a lifetime for our spirit to become full-grown but each step of the way leads us closer and closer to being righteous and holy as our God desired us to be from the beginning.

Christ sent us a "helper" after He was dead, resurrected, and His ascension. Our helper is the Holy Spirit residing within each of us. Obeying the Holy Spirit's voice, His teaching, and His guidance will insure that our life of faith grows progressively more solid each day. It is essential that we believe in Christ as our only Lord and Saviour, and that we repent of our sins.

So, what is "unholy?" A short list of things unholy: pride (pride is the first sin. It is what made Adam and Eve decide against God and try to live their own lives the way they thought it should be lived.) Other unholy attributes  are selfishness, lying, cheating, profanity, deceit, envying, taking the name of God in vain, anger, evil thoughts, drunkenness, causing strife, judging others, hatred, theft, adultery, homosexual relations, murder, false preaching, blasphemy, idolatry, ultimate rejection of Jesus Christ.

[This article came into being when attending a morning devotional. I was absolutely amazed that some of the members really didn't know about God - what He is like. I later penned this short article entitled "What Is God?" hoping that someone might be enlightened by these words. And it's all in the Bible!]
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The Spirit of True Religion

By: William Law

"You Will Receive True Power" written by William Law.

Quote:

I can think of one thing that is a common concern among all Christians and that should be carefully examined by them. I am sure that if it were either neglected, overlooked, or mistaken by them, there would be some sad consequences. This is something that is essential to Christian salvation.

What is the one thing? It is the renewal of the original life and power of the Spirit of God in us. Nothing else is needed by us, nothing else is intended for us, either by the law, the Prophets, or the Gospel. Nothing else can make sinful man become a godly creature again. Everything else, no matter what it is - however glorious and divine in outward appearance - is dead and helpless unless it has the Spirit of God breathing and living in it. All Scripture bears full witness to this truth. No angel, no person, no church, no reformation can do anything for us without the Spirit of God.

Everything written in the Bible was written only to call us back from the spirit of satan, the flesh, and the world, to be again fully dependent upon and obedient to the Spirit of God. Out of love and thirst for our souls, the Holy Spirit seeks to have His original power of life in us. When this is done, all that the Scriptures can do for us is also done. (According to Mr. Law, the Spirit of God brings back to life the corrupted spirit within us.)
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"The whole plan of redemption is to put the divine nature back into your spirit, as it was meant to be from the very beginning."

"Our salvation is in the life of Jesus Christ within us. This alone was the divine perfection of man before the fall, and it will be his perfection when he is one with Christ in heaven."

"Self is the power of satan living and working in us."

"A religion of "self" is the last and greatest manifestation of the mystery of iniquity."

"The devil is always where God is not, and that the work of the flesh is in every place where the Holy Spirit does not rule."

Hymns/quotes of Praise and Worship

Hymns/Quotes of Praise and Worship

"All the vices of fallen angels and man originate with the pride of "self".

"All the virtues of the heavenly life are the virtues of humility. It is humility alone that can traverse the otherwise impassable gulf between heaven and hell."

"Humility is the one thing that has led every angel to heaven, while pride is the fire that has led all the devils to hell."

~A. W. Tozer~
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"The whole plan of redemption is to put the divine nature back into your spirit, as it was meant to be from the very beginning."

"Our salvation is in the life of Jesus Christ within us. This alone was the divine perfection of man before the fall, and it will be his perfection when he is one with Christ in heaven."

"Self" is the power of satan living and working in us."

"A religion of "self" is the last greatest manifestation of the mystery of iniquity."

"The devil is always where God is not, and that the work of the flesh is in every place where the Holy Spirit does not rule."

~William Law~
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"What a man "is" is always more important than what he "does."
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Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove

~A. B. Simpson~

Come Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,
With all thy quickening powers
Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours.

Look, how we grovel here below,
Fond of these trifling toys
Our souls can neither fly nor go
To reach eternal joys.

In vain we tune our formal songs,
In vain we strive to rise
Hosannas languish on our tongues
And our devotion dies.

Dear Lord! And shall we ever be,
In this poor dying state?
Our love so faint, so cold to thee
And thine to us so great!

Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove
With all thy quickening powers
Come, shed abroad a Saviour's love
And that shall kindle ours.

Alternative verses:

Come Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove
With thy almighty powers
Kindle a flame of sacred love
In these cold hearts of ours.

See how we trifle here below,
fond of these earthly toys:
our souls, how heavily they go,
to reach eternal joys.

See how we linger here below,
fond of these earthly toys:
Although thou bid'st us onward go,
to reach eternal joys.

Look, how we grovel here below,
Fond of these earthly toys
Our souls how heavy they go
To reach eternal joys.

And shall we then for ever live
At this poor dying rate?
Our love so faint, so cold to thee
And thine to us so great!

Dear Lord! and shall we ever live
At this poor, dying rate?
Our love so faint, so cold to thee,
And thine to us so great?
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O How The Thought of God Attracts

~Fredrick Faber~

O how the thought of God attracts
And draws the heart from earth
And sickens it of passing shows
And dissipating mirth!

'Tis not enough to save our souls,
To shun th' eternal fires;
The thought of God will rouse the heart
To more sublime desires.

God only is the creature's home,
Though rough and strait the road;
Yet nothing less can satisfy
The love that longs for God.

O utter but the name of God
Down in your heart of hearts,
And see from the world at once
All tempting light depart!

A trusting heart, a yearning eye,
Can win their way above,
If mountains can be moved by faith,
Is there less power in love?
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My God, How Wonderful Thou Art

~Fredrick Faber~

My God, how wonderful Thou art,
Thy majesty, how bright;
How beautiful Thy mercy seat
In depths of burning light!

How dread are Thy eternal years,
O everlasting Lord,
By prostrate spirits day and night
Incessantly adored!

How wonderful, how beautiful,
The sight of Thee must be;
Thy endless wisdom, boundless power,
And glorious purity!

O how I fear Thee, living God,
With deep and tender fear;
And worship Thee with trembling hope,
And penitential tears!

Yet, I may love Thee, too, O Lord,
Almighty as Thou art;
For Thou hast stooped to ask of me
The love of my poor heart!

No earthly father loves like Thee,
No mother, e'er so mild,
Bears and forbears as Thou hast done,
With me, Thy sinful child.

Quotes and Prayers from Christian Classic Ministers

Quotes and Prayers from Christian Classic Ministers

"Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word. I rejoice at thy word, at one that findeth great spoil" (Psalm 119:161-162)

As I have tried to figure out what revivals have been down through the years, I have come to this conclusion. Revivals have been a sudden bestowment of the spirit of worship, where people worship God and suddenly the spirit of worship comes on them. It is not something that is worked up, but rather something God bestows; and where His presence is, you will have a revival immediately. Worship always is a result of the presence of God.

What I can explain will never overawe me, will never fill me with astonishment, wonder or admiration. The presence of that most ancient mystery, that unspeakable majesty, which the philosophers have called a mysterium tremendum, but we who are God's children call, "Our Father which art in heaven," - this ought to be present in the church today. Without this, there can be no genuine worship.

Only worship that flows from the awesome manifest presence of God is acceptable to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Father hears Him pray,
His dear Anointed One;
He cannot turn away,
The presence of His Son.
(Charles Wesley)

I long, O Majesty on high, for Thy blessed presence to overwhelm me to the point of silent worship and awe. Thy precious Word leaves me speechless. In Jesus' name, Amen

~A. W. Tozer~
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Oh, how precious is time, and how it pains me to see it slide away, while I do so little to any good purpose.

Ardent love or desire introduced, as passionately longing to please and glorify the Divine Being, to be in every respect conformed to Him, and in that way to enjoy Him.
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One Day At A Time

I'm only human, I'm just a man
Help me to believe in what I could be and all that I am
Show me the stairway that I have to climb
Lord for my sake teach me to take one day at a time.

One day at a time sweet Jesus, that's all I'm asking from you
Give me the strength to do every day what I have to do
Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus and tomorrow may never be mine
So for my sake teach me to take one day at a time.

Do you remember when you walked among men
Well Jesus you know if you're looking below it's worse now than then
Pushing and shoving crowding my mind
So for my sake teach me to take one day at a time.

One day at a time sweet Jesus that's all I'm asking from you
Give me the strength to do every day what I have to do
Yesterday's gone sweet Jesus and tomorrow may never be mine
Yes just for my sake teach me to take one day at a time.
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Breathing Out and Breathing In

~A. B. Simpson~

"Breathing out and breathing in
Jesus, Breathe Thy Spirit on me,
Teach me how to breathe Thee in,
Help me pour into Thy bosom
All my life of self and sin.

I am breathing out my own life,
That I may be filled with Thine:
Letting go my strength and weakness,
Breathing in Thy life divine.

Breathing out my sinful nature,
Thou hast born it all for me:
Breathing in Thy cleansing fullness,
Finding all my life in Thee.

I am breathing out my sorrow,
On Thy kind and gentle breast:
Breathing in Thy joy and comfort,
Breathing in Thy peace and rest.

I am breathing out my longings,
In Thy list'ning loving ear,
I am breathing in Thy answers,
Stilling every doubt and fear.

I am breathing every moment,
Drawing all my life from Thee:
Breath by breath I live upon Thee,
Blessed Spirit, breathe in me.

Hymns/Poems/ Songs of Praise and Worship

Hymns/Poems/Songs of Praise and Worship

There's a Wideness In God's Mercy

~Fredrick W. Faber~

There's a wideness in God's mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;
There's a kindness in His justice,
Which is more than liberty.

There is no place where earth's sorrows
Are more felt than up in Heaven;
There is no place where earth's failings
Have such kindly judgment given.

There is welcome for the sinner,
And more grace for the good;
There is mercy with the Saviour;
There is healing in His blood.

There is grace enough for thousands
Of new worlds as great as this;
There is room for fresh creations
In that upper home of bless.

For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of our mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.

There is plentiful redemption
In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the members
In the sorrows of the Head.

'Tis not all we owe to Jesus;
It is something more than all;
Greater good because of evil,
Larger mercy through the fall.

If our love were but more simple,
We should take Him at His word;
And our lives would be all sunshine,
In the sweetness of our Lord.

Souls of men! why will ye scatter 
Like a crown of frightened sheep
Foolish hearts! why will ye wander
From a love so true and deep?

It is God: His love looks mighty,
But is mightier than it seems;
'Tis our Father: and His fondness
Goes far out beyond our dreams.

But we make His love too narrow
By false limits of our own;
And we magnify His strictness
With a zeal He will not own.

Was there ever kinder shepherd
Half so gentle, half so sweet,
As the Saviour who would have us
Come and gather at His feet?
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O Come, Thou Stricken Lamb of God

~Nicolaus Zinendorf~

O come, Thou stricken Lamb of God!
Who shed'st for us Thine own life-blood.
And teach us all Thy love - then pain
In life were sweet and death were gain.

Take Thou our hearts, and let them be
For ever closed to all but Thee;
Thy willing servants, let us wear
The seal of love for ever there.

How blest are they who still abide
Close sheltered by Thy watchful side;
Who life and strength from Thee receive,
And with Thee move, and in Thee live.

Ah, Lord! enlarge our scanty thought,
To know the wonders Thou hast wrought:
Unloose our stammering tongues to tell
Thy love, immense, unsearchable.

Firstborn of many brethren, Thou!
To whom both heaven and earth must bow;
Heirs of Thy shame and of Thy throne,
We bear the cross, and seek the crown.
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Jesus, Still Lead On

~Nicolaus Zinzendorf~

Jesus, still lead on, till our rest be won,
And, although the way be cheerless,
We will follow calm and fearless,
Guide us by Thy hand to our fatherland.

If the way be drear, if the foe be near,
Let no faithless fears o'er take us,
Let not faith and hope forsake us,
For through many a woe to our home we go.

When we seek relief from a long felt grief;
When temptations come alluring,
Make us patient and enduring;
Show us that bright shore where we weep no more.

Jesus, still lead on, till our rest be won;
Heavenly Leader, still direct us,
Still support, control, protect us,
Till we safely stand in our fatherland.

Hymns/Quotes/Prayers of Praise and Worship

Hymns/Quotes/Prayers of Praise and Worship

Our Love of Christ is tested by whether we seek Him, or His gifts.
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I neglect God
for the noise of a fly,
the rattling of a coach,
the creaking of a door.
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In the Garden

I come to the garden alone, 
While the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear, Falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.

Chorus:

And He walks with me, 
and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

He speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody That He gave to me,
Within my heart is ringing.

I'd stay in the garden with Him
Tho' this night around me be falling,
But He bids me go; 
Thro' the voice of woe His voice to me is calling.
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The Eternal Generation of the Son

Amid the eternal silences
God's endless Word was spoken
None heard but He who always spake,
And the silence was unbroken.

Chorus:

Oh marvelous! Oh Worshipful!
No song or sound is heard,
But everywhere and every hour,
In love, in wisdom, and in power,
The Father speaks His dear eternal Word.

For ever in the eternal land
The glorious day is dawning;
For ever is the Father's Light
Like an endless outspread morning.

From the Father's vast tranquility,
In light coequal glowing
The kingly consubstantial Word
Is unutterably flowing.

For ever climbs that Morning Star
Without ascent or motion;
For ever is its daybreak
On the Spirit's boundless ocean.

O Word! who fitly can adore
Thy Birth and Thy Relation,
Lost in the impenetrable light
Of Thine awful Generation?

Thy Father clasps Thee evermore
In unspeakable embraces,
While angels tremble as thy praise,
And shroud their dazzled faces.

And oh! in what abyss of love,
So fiery yet so tender,
The Holy Spirit encircles Thee
With His uncreated splendor!

O Word! O dear and gentle Word!
Thy creatures kneel before Thee,
And ecstasies of timid love
Delightedly adore Thee.

Hail choicest mystery of God!
Hail wondrous Generation!
The Father's self-sufficient rest!
The Spirit's jubilation!

Dear Person! dear beyond all words,
Glorious beyond all telling!
Oh with what songs of silent love
Our ravished hearts are swelling!

Chorus:

Oh marvelous! Oh Wonderful!
No song or sound is heard,
But everywhere and every hour,
In love, in wisdom, and in power,
The Father speaks His dear Eternal Word.

~Fredrick Faber~
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O Jesus, Jesus

O Jesus, Jesus, dearest Lord!
Forgive me if I say,
For very love, Thy sacred Name
A thousand times a day.

Refrain:

O Jesus, Lord, with me abide;
I rest in Thee, whate'er betide;
Thy gracious smile is my reward;
I love, I love Thee, Lord!

I love Thee so I know not how
My transports to control;
Thy love is like a burning fire
Within my very soul.

Burn, burn, O love, within my heart,
Burn fiercely night and day,
Till all the dross of earthly loves
Is turned, and burned away.

O light in darkness, joy in grief,
O heav'n begun on earth;
Jesus, my Love, my Treasure, who
Can tell what Thou art worth?

What limit is there to this love?
Thy flight, where will Thou stay?
On, on! our Lord is sweeter far
Today than yesterday.

~Fredrick Faber~
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Oh, come, dear Lord, and fill my heart with blessed desire for Thee. I lift my heart anticipating the shining of Thy blessed face. Amen
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Our Father which art in heaven, I come to Thee, adoring the mystery of that which is Thyself. The more I know Thee, the more I want to know Thee in all the beauty of Thy holiness. In the name of Jesus, I pray, Amen.

Hymns of Praise and Worship

The Fear of God

~Frederick Faber~

My fear of Thee, O Lord, exults
Like life within my veins,
A fear which rightly claims to be
One of love's sacred pains.

Thy goodness to Thy saints of old
An awful thing appeared;
For were Thy majesty less good
Much less would it be feared.

There is no joy the soul can meet
Upon life's various road
Like the sweet fear that sits and shrinks
Under the eye of God.

A special joy is in all love
For objects we revere;
Thus joy in God will always be
Proportioned to our fear.

Oh Thou art greatly to be feared,
Thou art so prompt to bless!
The dread to miss such love as Thine
Makes fear but love's excess.

The fullness of Thy mercy seems
To fill both land and sea;
If we can break through bounds so vast,
How exiled shall we be!

For grace is fearful, which each hour
Our path in life has crossed;
If it were rarer, it might be
Less easy to be lost.

But fear is love, and love is fear,
And in and out they move;
But fear is an intenser joy
Than mere unfrightened love.

When most I fear Thee, Lord! then most
Familiar I appear;
And I am in my soul most free,
When I am most in fear.

I should not love Thee as I do:
If love might make more free;
Its very sweetness would be lost
In greater liberty.

I feel Thee most a father, when
I fancy Thee most near:
And Thou comest not so nigh in love
As Thou comest, Lord! in fear.

They love Thee little, if at all,
Who do not fear Thee much;
If love is Thine attraction, Lord!
Fear is Thy very touch.

Love could not love Thee half so much
If it found Thee not so near;
It is Thy nearness, which makes love
The perfectness of fear.

We fear because Thou art so good,
And because we can sin;
And when we make most show of love,
We are trembling most within.

And Father! when to us in heaven
Thou shalt Thy Face unveil,
Then more than ever will our souls
Before Thy goodness quail.

Our blessedness will be to bear
The sight of Thee so near,
And thus eternal love will be
But the ecstasy of fear.
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Adoration of the Godhead

~Isaac Watts~

Eternal Power, whose high abode
Becomes the grandeur of a God:
Infinite lengths beyond the bounds
Where stars revolve their little rounds:

Thee while the first archangel sings,
He hides his face behind his wings:
And ranks of shining thrones around
Fall worshiping, and spread the ground.

Lord, what shall earth and ashes do?
We would adore our Maker too;
From sin and dust to Thee we cry,
The Great, the Holy, and the High.

Earth, from afar, hath heard Thy fame,
And worms have learned to lisp Thy Name;
But Of the glories of Thy mind
Leave all our soaring thoughts behind.

God is in heaven, and men below:
Be short our tunes; our words be few:
A solemn reverence checks our songs,
And praise sits silent on our tongues.
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The Thought of God

~Frederick Faber~

The thought of God, the thought of Thee,
Who liest in my heart,
And yet beyond imagined space
Outstretched and present art,

The thought of Thee, above, below,
Around me and within,
Is more to me than health and wealth,
Or love of kith and kin.

The thought of God is like the tree
Beneath whose shade I lie,
And watch the fleets of snowy clouds
Sail o'er the silent sky.

'Tis like that soft invading light,
Which in all darkness shines,
The thread that through life's sombre web
In golden pattern twines.

It is a thought which ever makes
Life's sweetest smiles from tears,
And is a daybreak to our hopes,
A sunset to our fears;

One while it bids the tears to flow,
Then wipes them from the eyes,
Most often fills our souls with joy,
And always sanctifies.

Within a thought so great, our souls
Little and modest grow,
And, by its vastness awed, we learn
The art of walking slow.

The wild flower on the messy ground
Scarce bends its pliant form,
When overhead the autumnal wood
Is thundering like a storm.

So is it with our humbled souls
Down in the thought of God,
Scarce conscious in their sober peace
Of the wild storms abroad.

To think of Thee is almost prayer,
And is outspoken praise;
And pain can even passive thoughts
To actual worship raise.

O Lord! I live always in pain,
My life's sad undersong,
Pain in itself not hard to bear,
But hard to bear so long.

Little sometimes weighs more than much,
When it has no relief;
A joyless life is worse to bear
Than one of active grief.

And yet, O Lord! a suffering life
One grand ascent may dare;
Penance, not self-imposed, can make
The whole of life a prayer.

All murmurs lie inside Thy Will
Which are to Thee addressed;
To suffer for Thee is our work,
To think of Thee our rest.

Hymns/Prayers of Praise and Worship

Hymns/Prayers of Praise and Worship

O Could I Speak the Matchless Worth

~Wolfgang Mozart~

O could I speak the matchless worth,
O could I sound the glories forth
Which in my Saviour shine!
I'd sing His glorious righteousness,
And magnify the wondrous grace
Which made salvation mine.

I'd sing the precious blood He split,
My ransom from the dreadful guilt of sin,
And wrath divine;
I'd sing His glorious righteousness,
In which all perfect, heavenly dress
My soul shall ever shine.

I'd sing the characters He bears,
And all the forms of love He wears,
Exalted on His throne;
In loftiest songs of sweetest praise,
I would to everlasting days
Make all His glories known.

Soon, the delightful day will come
When my dear Lord will bring me home,
And I shall see His face;
Then with my Saviour, Brother, Friend,
A blessed eternity I'll spend,
Triumphant in His grace.
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Thou Hidden Love of God

~Gerhard Tersteegen~

Thou hidden love of God, whose height,
Whose depth unfathom'd no man knows,
I see from far thy beauteous light,
Inly I sigh for thy repose;
My heart is pain'd, nor can it be
At rest, till it finds rest in thee.

Thy secret voice invites me still,
The sweetness of thy yoke to prove:
And fain I would: but tho' my will
Seem fix'd, yet wide my passions rove;
Yet hindrances strew all the way;
I aim at thee, yet from thee stray.

'Tis mercy all, that thou hast brought
My mind to seek her peace in thee;
Yet while I seek, but find thee not,
No peace my wand'ring soul shall see;
O when shall all my wand'rings end,
And all my steps to thee-ward tend!

Is there a thing beneath the sun
That strives with thee my heart to share?
Ah! tear it thence, and reign alone,
The Lord of ev'ry motion there;
Then shall my heart from earth be free,
When it hath found repose in thee.

O hide this self from me, that I
No more, but Christ in me may live;
My vile affections crucify,
Nor let one darling lust survive;
In all things nothing may I see,
Nothing desire or seek but thee.

O Love, thy sov'reign aid impart,
To save me from low-thoughted care:
Chase this self-will thro' all my heart,
Thro' all its latent mazes there:
Make me thy duteous child, that I
Ceaseless may Abba, Father, cry!

Ah no! ne'er will I backward turn:
Thine wholly, thine alone I am!
Thrice happy he who views with scorn
Earth's toys, for thee his constant flame;
O help that I may never move
From the blest footsteps of thy love!

Each moment draw from earth away
My heart that lowly waits thy call:
Speak to my inmost soul, and say,
I am thy love, thy God, thy all!
To feel thy power, to hear thy voice,
To taste thy love, be all my choice.
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The Holiness Of God

Glory be to God on high. We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee, for Thy great glory. Lord, I uttered that I understand not, things too wonderful for me which I knew not. I heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee and I abhor myself in dust and ashes. O Lord, I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, yea, twice, but I will proceed no further.
But while I was musing the fire burned. Lord, I must speak of Thee, lest by my silence I offend against the generation of Thy children. Behold, Thou has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise,and the weak things of the world to confound the mighty. O Lord, forsake me not. Let me show forth Thy strength unto this generation and Thy power to everyone that is to come. Raise up prophets and seers in Thy Church will shall magnify Thy glory and through Thine almighty Spirit restore to Thy people the knowledge of the holy. Amen
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My God, How Wonderful Thou Art

~Fredrick Faber~

My God, how wonderful Thou art,
Thy majesty, how bright;
How beautiful Thy mercy seat
In depths of burning light!

How dread are Thine eternal years,
O everlasting Lord,
By prostrate spirits day and night
Incessantly adored!

How beautiful, how beautiful,
The sight of Thee must be,
Thine endless wisdom, boundless power,
And awful purity!

O how I fear Thee, living One,
With deepest, tenderest fears,
And worship Thee with trembling hope,
And penitential tears!

Yet I may love Thee too, O Lord,
Almighty as Thou art;
For Thou hast stooped to ask of me
The love of my poor heart.

Oh then this worse than worthless heart
In pity deign to take,
And make it love Thee, for Thyself
And for Thy glory's sake.

No earthly father loves like Thee,
No mother, e'er so mild,
Bears and forbears as Thou hast done,
With me, Thy sinful child.

Only to sit and think of God,
Oh, what a joy it is!
To think the thought, to breathe the name,
Earth has no higher bliss.

Father of Jesus, love's reward!
What rapture it will be,
Prostrate before Thy throne to lie,
And gaze and gaze on Thee!
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The Sovereignty of God

Who wouldst not fear Thee, O Lord God of Hosts, most high and most terrible? For Thou art Lord alone. Thou has made heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all things that are therein, and in Thy hand is the soul of every living. Thou sittest king upon the flood; yea, Thou sittest king forever. Thou art a great king over all the earth. Thou art clothed with strength; honor and majesty are before Thee. Amen
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The Lord Descended From Above

~Thomas Sternhold~

[Psalm paraphrase]
The Lord descended from above,

And bowed the heavens most high,

And underneath His feet He cast

The darkness of the sky.

Oh cherubim and seraphim

Full royally He rode,

And on the wings of mighty winds

Came flying all abroad.

He sat serene upon the floods,

Their fury to restrain;

And He, as sovereign Lord and King,

For evermore shall reign.