"Conflict" A poem by Anna Shipton

"Lord! my soul is burdened By a weight of care,

And my foot is taken in the fowler's snare;

​Darkness gathers o'er me, I shall fall or flee:

Helper of the helpless, Rise and succor me!

Dangers seem to threaten, Tempters' wiles assail;

In Thy light I see them, Yet I weakly quail.

Strange unholy terrors In my bosom rise;

"What distrustful language— Heavy groans and sighs!

Thoughts of sin's defilement Born of faithless mood,

Hosts of unclean devils, guests of hell's dark brood,

Leave me lame and mourning, Blind to seek and trace

All the glorious beauty Of Immanuel's face.

Look, oh, look upon me! See my wounds! and hear

In my soul's veiled chambers, what dishonoring fear!

Withered arms for service, And a palsied frame

That hath scarce a heart-throb At Thy precious name.

Touch me, cleanse me, heal me! Thou didst give me life;

Speak the word, and save me From this deadly strife.

Thine is full salvation, And the gift is free:

Helper of the helpless, Rise and succor me!

Hast Thou cast me from Thee? Well Thou mayst. Ah, no!

Hold me fast, sweet Jesus! Whither should I go?

Should I seek to hide me In some desert spot,

Earth no cavern holdeth Where my God is not.

Could I rise to heaven, Thus by fears oppressed,

There art Thou! Descending To the grave's dark breast,

​Even there Thou reignest; And the shades of night

Open lie as noon-day, To Thy piercing sight!

Wherefore am I thus, Lord? I, who fain would show

To the thirsty pilgrim Where the waters flow;

Where the milk to nourish, Where the wine of home,

Are so freely offered Unto all that come.

Father! may I call Thee Abba—Father—mine?

Dost Thou look upon me, And still own me Thine?

Ah! Thy Spirit shows me Christ! my Priest and King,

Sinless, Stainless, Perfect, Is my Offering.

Look on Thine Anointed; Let my tongue be mute,

While we gaze together On my Substitute.

​Thou art full well pleased With Thy spotless Lamb;

And Thy Spirit tells me What, O God, I am!

Lost, abhorred, and loathsome, Leprous and unclean;

Yet, enrobed in Jesus, I am spotless seen.

Oh, the weight of glory It is mine to share!

Even now He calls me "Altogether fair."

Lo, I see Thee, Jesus, Ransom of my soul!

Hast Thou not redeemed me? Let the thunders roll.

Can the law convict me? Thou hast set me free!

Back, thou wily Tempter, Jesus died for me.

Bend, oh, bend my will, Lord! This—my only aim;

For in light or darkness Thou art still the same.

​Give me, or withhold then, What Thou seest best;

Not upon Thy gifts, Lord— On Thyself I rest.

Did He say, "To-morrow I will hear thee"? Nay!

Full and free the fountain Floweth every day.

Holy Dove, oft grieved, Ere my tears were dried,

To my listening spirit Thy still voice replied.

"Child, My child! be patient: I thy sins have borne;

I have marked the conflict, And the scoffer's scorn;

I have seen the sorrows Of thy broken heart,

And in thy affliction Borne a brother's part.

"Wouldst thou fear the darkness, Didst thou hate the light?

"Would thy sin displease thee, Were thy sin delight?

​Evil would be welcome, Wert thou of the earth:

Child, look up to heaven, Whence thou hadst thy birth.

"Put thy heel on Satan, Draw the Spirit's sword,

Prove thy holy breast-plate, Take Me at My word.

Am I not thy Fortress? Wherefore fall or fly;

Grasp thy palm, rejoicing In My victory.

"'Tis the lowliest conquers; 'Tis by might of love

That the weakest soldier Doth the bravest prove.

Rest thee, weary tremble! Was the strife unsent?

Nay! thy King was with thee: Not a bow was bent,

"But thy Lord who loves thee Guided every dart;

See! they only sent thee nearer to my heart.

​At thine hands upraised Half thy foes withdrew;

Forward! I have conquered, Thou shalt conquer too.

"Child! in Me abiding, Nought thy foot shall move;

Fear not! I will help thee, Mine is changeless love.

Take My yoke upon thee, Learn the way from Me;

I am meek and lowly, Meek and lowly be.

"Take My yoke—I bore it, Lean upon My breast;

I have fought thy battle, Share with me My rest.

Soon the plains of glory Sinless thou shalt tread;

My right hand upholds thee, Rise—be undismayed.

"Trust Me—only trust Me! Wherefore shouldst thou quail?

Can a weapon prosper, Shall a foe prevail,

​'Gainst the Lord's Anointed? He hath set their bounds;

While thy faith, though feeble, Loving-kindness crowns."

I don't know about you, but I thought it well worth reading. 

Another poem by Robert M. Mccheyne &...

"When Israel knew not where to go,
God made the fiery pillar glow;
By night, by day, above the camp
It led the way - their guiding lamp;
Such is Thy Holy Word to me
In day of dark perplexity.
When devious paths before me spread,
And all invite my foot to tread
I hear Thy voice behind me say -
"Believing soul, this is the way,
Walk thou in it." O gentle Dove,
How much Thy holy law I love!
My lamp and light
In the dark night.

When Paul amid the seas seemed lost
By Adrian billows wildly tossed,
When neither sun nor star appeared,
And every wave its white head reared
Above the ship, beside his bed
An angel stood, and "Fear not" said.
Such is Thy holy word to me,
When tossed upon afflictions's sea;
When floods come in unto my soul,
And the deep waters o'er me roll,
With angel voice Thy Word draws near
And says, "Tis I, why shouldst thou fear?
Through trouble great My saints must go
Into their rest, where neither woe
Nor sin can come; where every tear
From off the cheek shall disappear,
Wiped by God's hand." O gentle Dove,
How much Thy holy law I love!
My lamp and light
In the dark night.

When holy Stephen dauntless stood
Before the Jews, who sought his blood,
With angel face he looked on high,
And wondering, through the parted sky,
Saw Jesus risen from His throne
To claim the martyr as His own.
Angelic peace that sight bestowed,
With holy joy his bosom glowed.
And while the murderous stones they hurled
His heaven wrapt soul sought yonder world
Of rest. "My spirit, Saviour, keep,"
He cried, he kneeled he fell asleep.
Such be Thy holy Word to me
In hour of life's extremity!
Although no more the murdering hand -
Is raised within our peaceful land -
The Church has rest, and I may ne'er
Be called the martyr's crown to wear:
Yet still, in whatsoever form
Death comes to me, in midnight storm
Whelming my bark, or in my nest,
Gently dismissing me to rest,
O grant me in Thy Word to see
A risen Saviour beckoning me.
No evil then my heart shall fear
In the dark valley. Thou art near!
My trembling soul and Thou, my God,
Alone are there; Thy staff and rod
Shall comfort me. O gentle Dove,
How much Thy holy law I love!
My lamp and light
In the dark night."

(1838.) 

Would you agree things seem dark all around the world? Those who trust the Lord Jesus have the privilege to look to Him and His Word. He is willing to direct our steps if we are willing to obey Him. 

Adoniram Judson said," the future is as bright as the promises of God." I believe the Eternal state will be far more glorious than we can comprehend. 

Let's keep our affections on the things of Heaven, eagerly awaiting our Saviour's return. 

Are you guilty or innocent?

 I heard most of this story earlier today and thought it was powerful so wanted to share.

 God is willing to forgive, cleanse and save all who call to Him in truth, recognising their need of Him.

CHRIST SAVES.

D. L. Moody in Prison. 

I have good news to tell you--Christ is come after you. I was at the Fulton-street prayer-meeting, a good many years ago, one Saturday night, and when the meeting was over, a man came to me and said, "I would like to have you go down to the city prison to-morrow, and preach to the prisoners. I said I would be very glad to go. There was no chapel in connection with that prison, and I was to preach to them in their cells. I had to stand at a little iron railing and talk down a great, long narrow passageway, to some three or four hundred of them, I suppose, all out of sight. It was pretty difficult work; I never preached to the bare walls before. When it was over I thought I would like to see to whom I had been preaching, and how they had received the gospel. I went to the first door, where the inmates could have heard me best, and looked in at a little window, and there were some men playing cards. I suppose they had been playing all the while. "How is it with you here?" I said. "Well, stranger, we don't want you to get a bad idea of us. False witnesses swore a lie, and that is how we are here." "Oh," I said, "Christ cannot save anybody here; there is nobody lost." I went to the next cell. "Well, friend, how is it with you?" "Oh," said the prisoner, "the man that did the deed looked very much like me, so they caught me and I am here." He was innocent, too! I passed along to the next cell. "How is it with you?'" "Well, we got into bad company, and the man that did it got clear, and we got taken up, but we never did anything." I went along to the next cell "How is it with you?" "Our trial comes on next week, but they have nothing against us, and we'll get free." I went round to nearly every cell but the answer was always the same--they had never done anything. Why, I never saw so many innocent men together in my life. There was nobody to blame but the magistrates, according to their way of it. These men were wrapping their filthy rags of self-righteousness about them. And that has been the story for six thousand years. I got discouraged as I went through the prison, on, and on, and on, cell after cell, and every man had an excuse. If he hadn't one, the devil helped him to make one. I had got almost through the prison, when I came to a cell and found a man with his elbows on his knees, and his head in his hands. Two little streams of tears were running down his cheeks; they did not come by drops that time.

"What's the trouble?" I said. He looked up, the picture of remorse and despair. "Oh, my sins are more than I can bear." "Thank God for that," I replied. "What," said he, "you are the man that has been preaching to us, ain't you?" "Yes." "I think you said you were a friend?" "I am." "And yet you are glad that my sins are more than I can bear!" "I will explain," I said "If your sins are more than you can bear, won't you cast them on One who will bear them for you?" "Who's that?" "The Lord Jesus." "He won't bear my sins." "Why not?" "I have sinned against Him all my life." "I don't care if you have; the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all sin." Then I told him how Christ had come to seek and save that which was lost; to open the prison doors and set the captives free. It was like a cup of refreshment to find a man who believed he was lost, so I stood there, and held up a crucified Saviour to him. "Christ was delivered for our offenses, died for our sins, rose again for our justification." For a long time the man could not believe that such a miserable wretch could be saved. He went on to enumerate his sins, and I told him that the blood of Christ could cover them all. After I had talked with him I said, "Now let us pray." He got down on his knees inside the cell, and I got down outside, and I said, "You pray." "Why," he said, "it would be blasphemy for me to call on God." "You call on God," I said. He knelt down, and, like the poor publican, he lifted up his voice and said, "God be merciful to me, a vile wretch!" I put my hand through the window, and as I shook hands with him a tear fell on my hand that burned down into my soul. It was a tear of repentance. He believed he was lost. Then I tried to get him to believe that Christ had come to save him. I left him still in darkness. "I will be at the hotel," I said, "between nine and ten o'clock, and I will pray for you." Next morning, I felt so much interested, that I thought I must see him before I went back to Chicago. No sooner had my eye lighted on his face, than I saw that remorse and despair had fled away, and his countenance was beaming with celestial light; the tears of joy had come into his eyes, and the tears of despair were gone. The sun of Righteousness had broken out across his path; his soul was leaping within him for joy; he had received Christ as Zaccheus did--joyfully. "Tell me about it," I said. "Well, I do not know what time it was; I think it was about midnight. I had been in distress a long time, when all at once my great burden fell off, and now, I believe I am the happiest man in New York." I think he was the happiest man I saw from the time I left Chicago till I got back again. His face was lighted up with the light that comes from the celestial hills. I bade him good-by, and I expect to meet him in another world.

Can you tell me why the Son of God came down to that prison that night, and, passing cell after cell, went to that one, and set the captive free? It was because the man believed he was lost. 

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.

Unto the upright...

I keep coming back to this verse. 

I find great encouragement here . 

When I am guilty and need His grace and mercy, I have His promise here in His Word: He is gracious. 

When sad news abounds, He is full of compassion. 

Though I have been unrighteous, His work on the Cross paid my debt and He imputes His righteousness to me when I confess and forsake my sins. 

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

In Him there is no darkness at all. 

When we come to Him, He shines His light. We can either walk in it, 

or choose to reject Him. 

Why would anyone choose eternal darkness and misery

 over eternal light and joy and glory? 

Thank You Lord for Your light, Your grace, 

Your compassions which never fail, and Your righteousness.

Please help me always

 to choose to walk in Your light. 

Every good gift

Yet again, this verse reminds me of the Lord's great faithfulness.

What a blessed reassurance that our God never varies in the slightest. 

He always gives good, perfect gifts, and He is light, in Whom is no darkness at all. 

We can and should trust Him completely, and we should never stop thanking Him for His marvellous loving-kindness to us.

What a privilege to be called His own dear children!

A few verses from Psalm 18

3 verses that jumped out at me from this morning's reading.

Aren't you glad that the earth is full of His mercy? 

and that His words give light (and life!)

and that His righteousness is everlasting!

Who knows which Psalm these are from?

(No prizes, just curious.)

A hymn by Robert Murray M'Cheyne

I don't believe I'd come across this hymn before today. 

I do enjoy coming across "new" old ones.

And to save you looking it up if you don't know, 

Jehovah Tsidkenu means "The Lord our Righteousness".

Jesus, the Light of the World

Today, (and every day) I'm celebrating the fact that Jesus, the Messiah came as the Light of the World. He illuminates the darkness. He exposes the darkness. He gives hope where previously there was only despair. He gives real joy and gladness to those who are His. I think that's a good reason to celebrate.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:1-14

"Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I Am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." John 8:12

A few encouraging quotes from D.L. Moody

"Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live. The law tells me how crooked I am. Grace comes along and straightens me out."

"God doesn't expect the impossible from us. He wants us to expect the impossible from Him!"

"Before we pray that God would fill us, I believe we ought to pray that He would empty us."

"We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won't need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don't fire cannons to call attention to their shining- they just shine."

"The work of the Spirit is to impart life, to implant hope, to give liberty, to testify of Christ, to guide us into all truth, to teach us all things, to comfort the believer, and to convict the world of sin."

"If a man just stops to think what he has to praise God for, he will find there is enough to keep him singing praises for a week."

"The Bible was not given for our information but for our transformation."

"Moses spent forty years thinking he was somebody; forty years learning he was nobody; and forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody."


"Christians should live in the world, but not be filled with it. A ship lives in the water; but if the water gets into the ship, she goes to the bottom. So Christians may live in the world; but if the world gets into them, they sink."

http://www.azquotes.com/author/10304-Dwight_L_Moody

Here's a short video clip re: a Professor and a boy

You might have seen it before, but I think it's rather interesting.