Himself for me.

 I was listening to a sermon this morning and this phrase the preacher repeated caught my attention because I remembered reading a poem about it.

I found the lyrics and a tune but can't find who authored it. 

The Invitation poem by Anna Shipton

 

Poem by Annie Johnson Flint

 The Grace of God

"My grace," 'tis the God of all grace who hath spoken,
Whose word in the heavens forever is set;
Whose covenant promise hath never been broken;
Who never can fail or forget;
Who knoweth my needs and who seeth my sorrows,
However so many and great they may be;
Who heareth my prayers for the days and the morrows;
His grace is sufficient for me.

"My grace;" all His blessings this work is unfolding,
His love and His power in harmony blend;
'Tis grace that hath saved me, and grace that is holding,
And grace that will keep to the end;
'Tis grace that hath written redemption's glad story,
And grace all the song of the ransomed shall be;
'Tis grace that transforms me from glory to glory;
That grace is sufficient for me.

"My grace is," not "was," and not "will be;" 'tis flowing
Each hour and each moment my need to supply,
The deeper I dip, still the deeper 'tis growing,
No drought can diminish or dry;
My heart from the future no trouble shall borrow;
Eternal this present provision shall be,
Assured for today and as sure for tomorrow,
Such grace is sufficient for me.

"My grace is sufficient." Oh, help without measure!
An ocean of riches no plummet can sound,
A storehouse unfailing of infinite treasure,
A gift without limit or bound;
Exceeding abundant for all His creation,
Enough for the thorn that is buffeting me,
The fulness of God for earth's brief tribulation -
"My grace is sufficient for thee."

"Sufficient for thee," for my utmost salvation,
As though ne'er another had owed Him a debt;
For my special grief and my special temptation,
My cares and my sins that beset;
He giveth more grace for my humble endeavour;
I am praising Him now, I shall praise Him forever;
His grace is sufficient for me.

I hope you also find this of encouragement. 

Grandad's poems

 I was looking through Grandad's poems yesterday and wanted to share these 2 excerpts. Thank You Heavenly Father for a goodly heritage. 

"A Little Way"

"A Little Way"

--Anonymous

"A little way! I know it is not far

To that dear home where my beloved are;

And still my heart sits, like a bird, upon

The empty nest, and mourns its treasures gone,

Plumed for their flight,

And vanished quite.

Ah me! Where is the comfort? Though I say

They have but journeyed on a little way.

"A little way! At times they seem so near,

Their voices even murmur in my ear,

To all my duties loving presence lend,

And with sweet ministry my steps attend.

'Twas here we met and parted company;

Why should their gain be such a grief to me?

This sense of loss!

This heavy cross!

Dear Savior, take the burden off, I pray,

And show me heaven is but--a little way.

"A little way? The sentence I repeat,

Hoping and longing to extract some sweet

To mingle with the bitter; from Thy hand

I take the cup I cannot understand,

And in my weakness give myself to Thee.

Although it seems so very, very far

To that dear home where my beloved are,

I know, I know,

It is not so;

Oh, give me faith to believe it when I say

That they are gone--gone but a little way."

I don't know about you but I thought that this was a rather good poem.

Hold on to Hope

"and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son." Revelation 21:4-7.

3 people recently challenged me to read the whole book of Revelation in one go. I had never thought to do that before...

The verses above have long been a favourite of mine. When things are seeming difficult to handle, I turn and read the last 3 chapters. It gives me much encouragement to press on; the end will be so wonderful!!

For my friends who are struggling with awful pain, I pray these help you hold on to the glorious hope.

"No more pain or sorrow and tears;

only Glory Forever. 

Hold on to hope, all weary ones;

We'll worship the Lamb together. 

The Lamb who was slain for us. 

Now reigns in Heaven on high. 

So trust in the LORD. He will not forget;

He promised your needs to supply. "

We have the Lord’s promise that life now will be tough, but He also promised that He will strengthen and help us. He will hear and answer our prayers. 

Thank You Heavenly Father for Your lovingkindnesses and Your faithfulness to keep all Your promises. 

Another old poem by William Luff

I found this poem an encouragement.

 Hope you do too! 

Are you eagerly awaiting His return?

I can't grasp how wonderful it will be to see the Saviour face to face, but I know it will be far more glorious than anything and everything else this life brings! 

I just read this and thought it worth sharing.

 "Thoughts of Home;

I've been thinking of home, 

of "my Father's house,

Where the many mansions be," 

Of the city whose streets are paved with gold, 

Of its jasper walls, so fair to behold,

Which the righteous alone shall see.

I've been thinking of home, 

where they need not the light

Of the sun, nor moon, nor star; 

Where the gates of pearl 

"are not shut by day, 

For no night is there," 

but the weary may

Find rest from the world afar.

I've been thinking of home, 

of the river of life

That flows through the city so pure; Of the tree that stands 

by the side of the stream, 

Whose leaves in mercy 

with blessings teem,

The sin-wounded soul to cure.

I 've been thinking of home, 

of the loved ones there,

Dear friends who have gone before, With whom we walked 

to the death river side, 

And sadly thought, 

as we watched the tide,

Of the happy days of yore.

I've been thinking of home, 

and my heart is full

Of love for the Lamb of God, 

Who His precious life 

as a ransom gave 

For a simple race, 

e'en our souls to save

From justice's avenging rod.

I've been thinking of home, 

and I 'm homesick now;

My spirit doth long to be 

In "the better land," 

where the ransomed sing 

Of the love of Christ, 

their Redeemer, King,

Of mercy so costly, so free.

I've been thinking of home, yea,

 "home, sweet home;

O, there may we all unite

With the white-robed throng, 

and forever raise 

To the triune God 

sweetest songs of praise,

With glory, and honor, and might!" 

Found in Samuel Rutherford's 

Garden of Spices. 

Stepping Heavenward excerpts

 I came across this book recommendation recently and I’ve found it delightful and helpful. “Stepping Heavenward” by E. Prentiss. (born 1818, died 1878).

"A fictional story of a young girl and the many challenges she confronts in her adult life."

These excerpts are some I found particularly encouraging.

 

“After alluding to my complaint that I still “saw men as trees walking,” he says:

“Yet he who first uttered this complaint had had his eyes opened by the Son of God, and so have you. Now He never leaves His work incomplete, and He will gradually lead you into clear and open vision, if you will allow Him to do it. I say gradually, because I believe this to be His usual method, while I do not deny that there are cases where light suddenly bursts in like a flood. To return to the blind man. When Jesus found that his cure was not complete, He put His hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up; and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. Now this must be done for you; and in order to have it done you must go to Christ Himself, not to one of His servants. Make your complaint, tell Him how obscure everything still looks to you, and beg Him to complete your cure. He may see fit to try your faith and patience by delaying this completion; but meanwhile you are safe in His presence, and while led by His hand, He will excuse the mistakes you make, and pity your falls. But you will imagine that it is best that He should at once enable you to see clearly. If it is, you may be sure He will do it. He never makes mistakes. But He often deals far differently with His disciples. He lets them grope their way in the dark until they fully learn how blind they are, how helpless, how absolutely in need of Him. What His methods will be with you I cannot foretell. But you may be sure that He never works in an arbitrary way. He has a reason for everything He does. You may not understand why He leads you now in this way and now in that, but you may, nay, you must believe that perfection is stamped on His every act.”

 

“I can’t be good two minutes at a time. I do everything I do not want to do, and do nothing I try and pray to do. Everybody plagues me and tempts me. And God does not answer any of my prayers, and I am just desperate.”

“Poor child!” he said, in a low voice, as if to himself. “Poor, heart-sick, tired child, that cannot see what I can see, that it’s Father’s loving arms are all about it!”

I stopped crying, to strain my ears to listen. He went on- “Katy, all that you say may be true. I daresay it is. But God loves you. He loves you!”

“He loves me,” I repeated to myself. “He loves me! Oh Dr. Cabot, if I could believe that, after all the promises I have broken, all the foolish, wrong things I have done, and shall always be doing, God perhaps still loves me!”

“You may be sure of it,” he said, solemnly. “I, his minister, bring the gospel to you today. Go home and say over and over to yourself, “I am a wayward, foolish child. But He loves me! I have disobeyed and grieved Him ten thousand times. But He loves me! I have lost faith in some of my dearest friends and am very desolate. But He loves me! I do not love Him, I am even angry with Him! But He loves me!””

I came away, and all the way home I fought this battle with myself, saying, “He loves me!” I knelt down to pray and all my wasted, childish, wicked life came and stared me in the face. I looked at it, and said with tears of joy, “But He loves me!” Never in my life did I feel so rested, so quieted, so sorrowful, and yet so satisfied.

 

(Several years pass with many heartaches before the next two excerpts.)

“But I see, too, that the great points of similarity in Christ’s disciples have always been the same. This is the testimony of all the good books, sermons, hymns, and memoirs I read- that God’s ways are infinitely perfect; that we are to love Him for what He is, and therefore equally as much when He afflicts us as when He prospers us; that there is no real happiness but in doing and suffering His will, and that this life is but a scene of probation, through which we pass to the real life above.”

 

This last one is when Katherine is visiting an old saint on her deathbed.

“Yes, I am tired,” she said, “but what of that? It is only a question of days now, and all my tired feelings will be over. Then I shall be as young and as fresh as ever, and shall have strength to praise and to love God as I cannot do now. But before I go, I want once more to tell you how good He is, how blessed it is to suffer with Him, how infinitely happy He has made me in the very hottest heat of the furnace. It will strengthen you in your trials to recall this my dying testimony. There is no wilderness so dreary but that His love can illuminate it; no desolation so desolate but that He can sweeten it. I know what I am saying. It is no delusion. I believe that the highest, purest happiness is known only to those who have learned Christ in sickrooms, in poverty, in racking suspense and anxiety, amid hardships, and at the open grave.”

Yes, the radiant face, worn by sickness and suffering, but radiant still, said in language yet more unspeakably impressive.

“To learn Christ, this is life!”

Time for a song

 https://youtu.be/fHg0kQDBPPg

This is the latest one I uploaded, although I wrote most of it in 2020.

I hope you will be blessed by the truth of it. 

A prayer by J. R. Miller

 A dear friend shared this with me last year and I think it's particularly helpful for these days in which we are living so wanted to share them on this platform too. 

Alan Redpath quotes

I searched some sites and found all these quotes from Alan Redpath.

I know very little about him but nearly all of these greatly encouraged me in some way. 

I hope you are also blessed, challenged and encouraged. 

(This first one is abridged to make it more personal.) 

"God expects nothing from (insert your name here) but failure. We are no different today from the day before we were converted. We would be capable of committing any sin imaginable but for the grace of God. We are no different as people from what we were as youngsters. And the sins that beset us then beset us now, were it not for a constant, continual dependence upon the blood of Jesus, and the grace of God, and the power of the Holy Ghost to keep us.

 As long as I seek by His grace to maintain the attitude of committal and surrender to Him, then every demand, however unexpected or grim, hard, tough; every decision, however difficult; every temptation, every fierce dart of the Enemy of my soul is an attack upon the life of Christ within me. And He is always greater than Satan himself. For every situation in life God has implanted within me One who is altogether perfect, if only I let Him have His own way. How urgent therefore is this need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

I believe that the discovery of God's will for your career is dependent upon the acceptance of God's will for your character. Far too often in seeking to know God's will for our lives we're at the wrong end of the line. Our concern should never be our relationship to the problem of a career, but our relationship to the person of Jesus Christ. Then He will look after the career. What we are is much more important to Him than what we do for Him. We mean far more to God than the work we do.

Faith is two empty hands held open to receive all of the Lord.  

God's mercy with a sinner is only equalled and perhaps outmatched by His patience with the saints, with you and me.  

Before we can pray, "Lord, Thy Kingdom come," we must be willing to pray, "My Kingdom go."  

The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment, but the manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime.  

If you look up into His face and say, "Yes, Lord, whatever it costs," at that moment He'll flood your Life with His presence and power. 

When I think of that story (of David and Jonathan) , my heart is stirred by a desire not only that I might have a Jonathan in my life—that is surely very wonderful, but very selfish—but also that I might find a David somewhere to whom I could be a Jonathan. Would you ask the Holy Spirit to make you a friend like that, to help you to cultivate in your life sanctifying disinterested, steadfast friendships? Oh, that the Lord might let us play a part in shaping and fashioning another life in the image of Jesus Christ!

He died for the ungodly, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. There wasn’t one lovely or good thing in any of us that could draw out love from the heart of a holy Savior—there was everything to repel. Yet the infinite God, the altogether lovely One, whose ideal of love surely is far beyond anything we could ever imagine, whose capacity for love is beyond our understanding altogether, He loved us and gave Himself for us.

This is the Lord of glory, dying amidst the scorn of the people He came to redeem. Think of Him in heaven with all authority in His hands and the angelic host around Him. Then look at Him hanging on a cross with the riff-raff of humanity sneering and gaping at him. When I realize that there He took my sin, the pollution and filthiness of my life, as if it were His very own, and then poured it into oblivion as far as the east is from the west, I say, “Lord Jesus, Thy love to me was wonderful!

I want to make the issue crystal clear. There can be no possible doubt, according to the Word of God: either Jesus must be King, or He cannot be your Savior.

The best place any Christian can ever be in is to be totally destitute and totally dependent upon God, and know it.

The condition of an enlightened mind is a surrendered heart... If a man in his heart is right with God, God will deal with the problem.

Any battle for victory, power, and deliverance - from ourselves and from sin - which is not based constantly upon the gazing and the beholding of the Lord Jesus, with the heart and life lifted up to Him, is doomed to failure.

The man who gazes upon and contemplates day by day the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, and who has caught the glow of the reality that the Lord is not a theory but an indwelling power and force in his life, is as a mirror reflecting the glory of the Lord.

No sin which we are capable of committing has ever taken God by surprise for He knew we were just like that.

Return to the battle again, no longer trusting in the false and insufficient human resources which so foolishly we had taken into the battle, but now trusting in the limitless resources of our risen Lord.

When God wants to do an impossible task He takes an impossible man and crushes him.

I refuse to become panicky, as I lift up my eyes to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart.

There's some task which the God of all the universe, the great Creator, your redeemer in Jesus Christ has for you to do, and which will remain undone and incomplete until by faith and obedience you step into the will of God.

Obey God in all things today! Drive out the enemy! Lay the ax to the root of the tree, and the capacity for Jesus Christ will be increased tomorrow.

Circumstances which we have resented, situations which we have found desperately difficult, have all been the means in the hands of God of driving the nails into the self-life which so easily complains.

Alan Redpath

Thinking of Heaven

 "Heaven is a wonderful place

Filled with Glory and Grace

I want to see my Saviour's face

Heaven is a wonderful place."

(written by Debby Kerner & Ernie Rettino)

 I remember hearing this chorus as a child and singing along. I think it means more to me now than it did then. 

I'm also looking forward to seeing again the faces of the dear saints I knew and loved who are already experiencing the joy of seeing the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. 

As I looked through many references about Heaven, I was encouraged. 

He is the One who keeps us and has reserved a place for us. 

(I had only heard this partially quoted previously; I'm glad I found the fuller version as I find it encouraging and hope you do too.) 

There are many things we don't know, but we do know that Heaven is wonderful. How could it not be when we remember Who created it? His Name is Wonderful so everything He does must also be wonderful! (even though it might not always feel like that to us at the time. When we reach that land of pure delight we will thank Him as we realise the things we couldn't understand down here and recognise He led us every step of the way. How we need His grace and mercy daily!) 

The thing that most stood out to me as I looked through the verses, was the paradox of Heaven being the Lord's dwelling place when the Universe / Heaven of Heavens cannot contain Him. Also, how amazing that He condescended to dwell on this earth with us and offers us the way to share this bliss of Eternal Glory with Him!! 

I didn't include the descriptions given in Revelation; the Water of Life, the bountiful fruit trees, the pearly gates, the golden streets, and the other precious gems. 

These will all be outshone by the radiance of the Glory of the Lord. 

When the things of this life are taking up too much headspace, I like to reread the last 3 chapters of Revelation to remind myself of these truths. The Lord Jesus is returning for His people soon! And Heaven will be infinitely more amazing than my mind can think!

We who have trusted the Lord for salvation will be with the Lord, the angels, and the saints forever! It will be so glorious! I need to make sure I'm living ready! 

I'm so glad of the reminders that it is all by His grace as none of us could ever hope to earn a place in Glory. The Lord Jesus Christ has done everything necessary! We just need to trust, love and thank Him! 

As I was writing this, this verse came to mind... "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:20. I think that's definitely worthy of rejoicing, don't you? 

I'll close with these, 2 of my favourite passages from the last 2 chapters. 

I hope they bless you as they do me! 

"And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son." Revelation 21:4-7. (BTW, I composed this blog last week and these verses have cropped up 3 or 4 times since then.) 

"And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place. “Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” Revelation 22:3-7.

A poem by Lily Gaynor

Lily was a missionary friend of my Granny. 

It was my privilege to meet her a few times.

I love this poem she wrote. 

It's a matter of life and death

 Yesterday I had a short but interesting conversation with a lady who I met several years ago.

She was asking me if I wouldn't mind not being alive much longer.

I replied that that was perfectly alright by me.

Earlier today I came across this quote... 

"But as for me, I trust in You, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me." Psalm 31:14-15.

I thank God He has drawn me to Himself and given me the gift of eternal life... However short or long my sojourn on earth may be, I am fully convinced that Heaven will be far more glorious than anything I could ever imagine and I will enter only because of the Lord's amazing grace, mercy and lovingkindness. 

"We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him." 2 Corinthians 5:8-9.

Poem quotes to remember

 

3 more poems from Great Grandma's remembrance book

Another couple of poems from Great Grandma's remembrance book

He threaded his way through the crowded street

A commonplace man, though tidy and neat

The kind of man you see by the score

One glance suffices, you look no more.

Just one of the crowd in colour and size -

Unless you happened to look at his eyes.

He was one of the queue that boarded the bus.

Just part of the pattern, just one of us.

For him, there was not so much as a glance

From the girls in their finery off to the dance.

Just one of so many in collars and ties -

Unless you happened to look at his eyes.

There's someone Who knows the secret that lies

Behind the radiance of those eyes.

Inspiring in glory that light to shine

Someone could tell of a purpose divine.

He'll never tell it - his joy was in giving

(discovering, so doing, the pure joys of living)

Making a life that seemed broken worthwhile

Helping, in truth, a lame dog o'er a stile

He did not ask how much he might gain

He only saw the sorrow and pain

Which he could relieve; nor queried the price,

Nor measured the sum of his own sacrifice

Who would never achieve either fortune or fame

But the salt of the earth, all humanity's leaven

For of such, said our Lord, is the kingdom of heaven.

Verily...

You might ask yourself, "Can it really be so simple?" According to this verse, yes, it can. 

Have you heard His Word? And put your trust in Jesus alone?

Here we have another beautiful promise of Jesus that He saves those who trust Him. 

I repeatedly come back to this verse. 

I'm so glad God included it!

So often I fail to live and think as a Christian ought to live and think, but my salvation is not based on my performance! 

I'm very glad about that! 

My perfecly sinless Saviour was willing to suffer agony on the cross to bring us sinners back to Himself.

He loved us so much that He endured torture to restore us to a right standing relationship. 

He paid my debt. 

I owe Him my life!

Make Your face shine...

Echoes of the Aaronic blessing here. I don't recall ever giving much thought to what it means to have His face shine upon one, but what an amazing thing it must be. I'm reminded by this verse that He doesn't save us for any reason other than because He is merciful and gracious. We certainly can't earn salvation; it's a gift that cost the Lord Jesus Christ His very life!

Because He gave everything for us, we should certainly be willing to be His servants. As Romans 12 puts it, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

I've always found these verses a great challenge.