HE IS RISEN

.... that He gave His one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.          John ch.3 v.16

The power of love

There's something about You Jesus that just escapes my mind
about how You cause the lame to walk and restore the sight of the blind
and how you can take the lowly, the broken hearted ones
and place them in Your kingdom to bring them up as sons
There's something about You Jesus, there's something about Your face
though I can't see any features I see wisdom, compassion and grace
There's something about those eyes Lord that shed those tears for me
there's something about those healing hands that they fastened to that tree
What made You say 'Father forgive them, for they know not what they do'
when they saved the life of Barabbas, and they chose to crucify You
I know what that 'something' is Lord as I look to my Father above
It's the one thing that covers all others .... It's Your totally unselfish love


I look around the world

I look around the world and see
whole nations in distress
growing camps of refugees
full of hopelessness
I used to think that this was fate
the way we all must die
because the world was full of hate
but this was Satan's lie
The words 'Forgive them Father
for they know not what they do'
came to my ears when I was lost
and you can hear them too
Just turn your eyes to Jesus
who hung there on that tree
He took the shame and torture
to save both you and me

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved        Acts ch.4 v.12

I'm on a cloud

I'm on a cloud above the world, a cauldron boils below
I see beneath me on God's earth a tale of dread and woe
of how so very long ago a man was formed from clay
and given life from God above, but sin led him astray
He questioned what the Father said and lost eternal life
and now he struggles in this world in self destructive strife

He tries to shape his future by the power of his own hand
His cry 'I'm my own master'... it echoes through the land
but while this proud confession is still upon his breath
the worldly life for which he strives has now become a death
He stumbles in the darkness, his eyes have gone quite blind
'What have I done?' he questions 'Ive lost my peace of mind'

But wait, I look towards the east... a ray of hope I see
a second adam sent to earth to set all mankind free
'Put down your heavy burdens' this Saviour says with love
'Come drink the waters of new life sent down from God above
I bring salvation to the world, your sins have all been pardoned
Come learn of me the Father's ways... don't let your hearts be hardened'

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.     1 Corinthians ch.15 v.22

The Bramble

I was preparing to create a small card on my computer, and I was going to use a photograph I had taken some time ago of a blackberry bush.  As I looked at the picture of the bush heavily laden with fruit, with some of the flowers still in full bloom, I suddenly had a revelation of how everything that God creates has its purpose, and how we can sometimes fail to see the relevance and the beauty in certain things.

When we think of the wild bramble that grows in the countryside we tend to think more of its thorns rather than its fruit and its beautiful flowers, yet when we think of the cultivated rose that we grow in our gardens we praise its flower and its perfume rather than concentrate on the thorns.  l sometimes think we have the same principles in our relationships with people.  We  can praise and give more honour to people who are rich and famous, or are endowed with certain kind of looks to fit the fashion of the day, than we do to a poor, unknown or insignificant person.  We are often respecters of persons who are in high positions and tend to miss the lovely qualities in the most ordinary of people. 

I am glad to say that I have never been a respecter of persons, and have often found the greater beauty in the 'wild' more than in the 'cultivated'.   How can God's handywork be improved upon ?

My photograph of the blackberry bush reminded me of just how much beauty is around if we take the time to look.

Line upon line

Last week, very soon after I had posted about my cat on my blog, someone said to me 'Did you hear about that man who used a cat as a football, he got nineteen days in jail.'  A word formed in my mind, then my concience suggested that I did not say it.  My love for cats however finally persuaded me to answer 'good'.  Immediately I had said it I felt bad.  By then other words were forming in my mind.  'He will come across lots of cat lovers in prison.', but I stopped myself from saying them.  Later that day I thought of how easy it is to drift from what the Lord is trying to teach me and, after praying that while in prison the man would come across, not someone who would harm him for the harm he did to the cat, but someone who would tell him about salvation in Jesus, so that he would not do that sort of thing.  Where would I be now, I thought, if God had punished me according to the things I did before knowing Him, and the things I yet do?  I was thinking about this on Sunday morning, and realizing how praying for the man had brought happiness and peace to me, whereas answering 'good' had brought the opposite.  I went to open my Bible to read, and opened to Proverbs ch.12.  Verse 18 was underlined.  It read ... 'There is one whose rash word are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.'  I believe that those 'sword thrusts', directed at the one the words are aimed at, also have the ability to attack the spirit of the one who speaks them.  I love the way the Lord teaches, and know that there is no way that I could change myself without the help of the Holy Spirit.  God's ways are totally different to our ways, and neither are His thoughts our thoughts.

New man for old

Lord when I'm being taunted and mocked for loving You
Cause me to remember that You were taunted too
When I'm being laughed at for calling on Your name
Let me see You standing there and taking all that shame
And if I'm being tempted to draw back into sin
Tell me 'Turn away child, don't let the devil win'
Lord sometimes it's difficult to die to sinful man
When the Spirit says 'You can't' and the flesh says 'Yes you can'
I'm so afraid I'll fail You, the old man can be strong
Sometimes it's hard to tell Lord what's right and what is wrong
The old man says 'Retaliate!' to every harsh word said
The new says 'You've been born again, the old man is now dead'
So Lord teach me to listen, when I hear You speak
Create in me a spirit that is lowly and meek
Take away the old man of anger, greed and lust
Form a new creation inside this outer crust
Help me to forgive them, when the world abuses me
Teach me how to show Your love, that I know can set them free
Lord help me go all the way to that rugged cross
Show me that to lose this life is gain and not a loss
And then just like the chrysalis that hangs upon it's thread
I'll become a butterfly.... and You'll have raised the dead

Guilt

Our little cat, Fluffy was very ill.  I had prayed for her a few times before when she had been younger and the Lord had made her well on those occasions.  This time she had been steadily losing weight and I had resorted to going to the vet when the Lord appeared not to answer my prayers.  The vet said that the trouble was in her kidneys and it was due to her age.  I was afraid of losing her and let the vet give her steroids.  For a time she appeared to pick up, and we thought she was going to get better, but then she lost the use of her back legs and we had to take her to the vets again.  I wanted Fluffy to be made well but I had a strong feeling that the vet would advise putting her to sleep, something which neither my husband nor myself wanted to face.  We love our cats very much, as any animal lover will understand.  On the way to the vets Fluffy was licking my hand and I almost felt as if she was telling me that everything would be alright, as if in some strange way she was trying to comfort me.  When we arrived at the vets I could not go in and so my husband took Fluffy in alone, while I sat in the car.  Within a short time he came out and said that the vet had said that there was nothing he could do and it would be cruel not to put her to sleep.  It was a terrible moment for both of us and neither of us wanted to give the vet permission to do it, but we both knew that we could not leave her in the state she was in.  My husband kept saying 'What am I to tell him?'.  I finally said yes and my husband came out some time later with Fluffy's little body, and we took her home to bury her in the garden.  As soon as I saw her I felt terribly guilty, I felt as if I had killed her and I kept crying.  It went on for days and I could get no peace.  I kept praying and asking the Lord to give me peace over it, asking Him why He had not healed her and to show me whether I had done right or wrong.  Finally the Lord answered me in a song and I believe He showed me through various incidents that even if I had not taken her to the vets at all, even without the steroids, that Fluffy would have died naturally on the same day that the vet put her to sleep.  It was just her time to die. 

I have learned through that incident, and many other incidents, that the Lord knows that we are flesh, and understands our heart like no one else could, and that everything that I do, and the reason I do it, is known to God. 

This is the song that eventually helped to bring me peace in the situation, in which I asked questions of the Lord and also, I believe, the Lord answered those questions.

Death has no sting

Where were You Lord with Your healing power
I called Your name but I heared no sound
Left all alone to use my emotions
I chose compassion and death won the round

Now I recall, Your voice it was speaking
And it was saying 'This just has to be
There is a time of ashes to ashes
When the spirit of life must return unto me'

I heard Your voice not in the wind Lord
Nor in the earthquake Your voice could I find
I heard Your voice not in the fire Lord
But in the compassion ... in the still of my mind

Now Lord I know You were there with Your power
Now Lord I know that You set all things free
Now Lord I know that in their final hour
Death has no sting .... it has no victory

For where there's no fear there is no barrier
And love is the power that sets all things free
Your love has shown that this life and it's sufferings
Can never compare to what's waiting for me

Observations on Job

The book of Job makes a loud statement, it is that one who is blameless and upright, who fears God and turns away from evil, and who prays for his family will not necessarily escape testing which involves suffering and hardship.  It is very easy to speak well of God when you are living in total comfort.  The real test comes when you are suffering.  Job was tested in his possessions, his family and finally his flesh, but even when he became sick he did not sin with his lips.  He cursed the day of his birth but did not curse God.  On losing his possessions he did not sin or charge God with wrong.  While Job was defending his integrity with his friends, his friends felt that through his declaring his innocence he was exalting himself above them.  Job accuses his comforters of using earthly wisdom to defend God's case against him and goes on to say that even though he may not understand the reasons for his affliction he will not accept it without questioning and reasoning with God, indeed he would rather risk being slain than be a hypocrite.  He decides to complain to God about his situation, accusing God of trying to destroy him.  Job praises all the handiwork of God and yet acknowledges that all that is known of God through nature itself is a minute part of His glory and that no man understands His power.  Job's friends insist that all that Job is suffering is what the wicked suffer when they err and is a form of divine punishment.  They do not connect suffering with godliness.  However in truth Job, just as it says Jesus did, learned obedience through the things that he suffered.  In ch.19 Job discerns that he is completely isolated and that his friends do not understand.  He argues that even if he has erred then it is God that has brought it all about and he doesn't need scorn from them as well.  In spite of all hes suffering and rejection from friends he knows that there is a redeemer and believes that even after his body perishes he shall stand vindicated before God.  He maintains that God knows the way he will take and that when God has tried him he shall come forth as fine gold.

Job came to understand that the man that is acceptable to God is not the flesh and blood man that tries to keep the law in order to be righteous before God, but the spiritual man that seeks God for mercy and grace.  God seeks in man a relationship that is intimate, one which cannot be understood by the carnal mind, nor attained through the flesh.  When Job tried to understand God with the carnal mind he became confused, his reverence for God had been birthed in his financial security and his pyysical well being.  He learned that absolute authority over everything was held by God, whether it be good or evil, and that nothing could happen to him except it be allowed by God. 

It was not to punish Job that God allowed Satan to afflict him, affliction is to strengthen, not to weaken.  Only when one is placed in darkness will one search for light.  During his affliction Job came to know God in truth as a God who could do all things, a God who was to bless Job with even more in his latter days than he'd had in the former, and also a long life.  Job's house had to be built on a rock, not on sand.

Job's friends' advice was based on a knowledge of a far off God who rewarded according to mans' righteousness and punished according to mans' unrighteousness.  Once God had revealed himself to Job, Job could see how unrighteous he was in comparison to God and this took all pride from him and brought him to a place of repentance and humility.

Job, in a sense, is a type of the born again believer, being made righteous in Christ yet having to mature in Christ through suffering in order to fully come to learn God's ways and see Him as He is.  Before his suffering Job, like his friends, knew God only at a distance.  Suffering was the vessel which carried him to the point where he sought out God to ask that which he felt no need to ask before, and the means by which he came to know God as his redeemer.  A redeemer is one who improves to the best advantage.  White marble can only be had through extreme heat and pressure.  It was only when Job truly suffered did he seek God, only when he sought God did he see Him as he really is, and only when he saw Him as all powerful did he see himself as unrighteous.  Only then was he acceptable to God.

In Job ch. 36 v. 16 Elihu tells Job ' He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction.'  Suffering is a temporary circumstance that God can bring us through if we have faith in Jesus.  I have come through, and still experience, many Job situations, as I am sure everyone does, and I would encourage everyone to question God, read the Bible.  He will come back with all the answers, as he did with Job.

Second chance

Reading Tim Child's blog the other day, a post he's entitled 'Second chance' made me think of a song I had written years ago.  It was written after I had come to know Jesus as my Saviour, and was one of the songs I used to sing in the streets with a Christian friend.  I write this song on my blog as a testimony to the love and compassion that I have found in that Saviour.

Listen all you people there's a story to be told
A wondrous tale of beauty talked about in days of old
It speaks about a mystery, a beautiful romance
How the God of all creation gave this world a second chance
A second chance to walk with God, to become His holy child
To be rescued from our wretchedness, and to Him be reconciled
By believing on Jesus, the lamb who was slain
That we might be accepted by the Father again
No more to be in torment, no more to be in shame
When we trust on our Saviour and the power in His name
Yes the Father sent Jesus just to save you and me
He's the bread sent from Heaven, He's the life-giving tree
So turn from your hard labour, come out from slavery
For the Son of God released you on that cross at Calvery
Don't let sin be your master, come shout sing and dance
For the Lord God of Heaven has given us a second chance

There are two other songs which I felt to bring with me today to put on my blog. The first one is a song in which I felt the Lord was speaking to me, and the second one is me speaking to God, in a prayer that I made, and still do make, for others.

Weep no more child

Lost in the world, I was entangled in sin and shame
Lord that was when I met You
Then from my grave I heard You calling, calling my name
With a voice that was gentle but true
'Turn around my child, and look at me'
Were the words that were piercing my heart
'Turn around from your sin, be set free
Come to me and make a new start'
Then water so pure and chrystal clear
Was washing away all my doubt and my fear
And the tears ran free, as you said to me......


Weep no more child, I have bought your peace
I have suffered in your place
All the blows the world has dealt you
I have taken on my face
Turn around, turn around and I will forgive
Turn around, turn around, turn around child and live
For I take no pleasure in the death of a soul
Turn around, seek my face child, and I'll make you whole

Strive no more child, I can bring release
I regained what you had lost
Righteousness was purchased for you
When they nailed me to that cross
Turn around, turn around, and I will forgive
Turn around, turn around, turn around child and live
For I take no pleasure in the death of a soul
Turn around, seek my face child, and I'll make you whole

Sin no more child, turn and look at me
See that I have paid the price
So that you could have salvation
I became the sacrifice
Turn around, turn around and I will forgive
Turn around, turn around, turn around child and live
For I take no pleasure in the death of a soul
Turn around, seek my face child, and I'll make you whole

Somewhere

Somewhere someone's hurting Lord, somewhere someone's hurting
A wife has left her husband, and he's crying in despair
He doesn't know there's a comforter, he doesn't know You're there
Lord reach out and comfort him, send help from above
Send help from the sanctuary, let the world see Your love

Somewhere someone's dying Lord, somewhere someone's dying
The doctors shake their heads and say ' There's nothing can be done '
But they've never seen a miracle performed by God's own Son
Lord reach out and heal him, send help from above
Send help from the sancruary, let the world see Your love

Somewhere someone's crying Lord, somewhere someone's crying
Her tears are shed for all mankind, she knows the end is near
But she doesn't know there's a perfect love that casts out every fear
Lord reach out and love her, send help from above
Send help from the sanctuary, let the world see Your love

Somewhere someone's waiting Lord, somewhere someone's waiting
They've heard there's hope in Jesus Christ, the name above them all
So they're waiting for their Lord's return, responding to Your call
Lord, you've reached out to us, God sent help from above
He sent help from His sanctuary, when He sent You, His perfect love

In my thirty years of knowing Jesus, I have come to know, and am still learning about, that perfect love of God  that wants to change us into the image of His Son, but understands that we are flesh.  I have never come across anything so compassionate, longsuffering and powerful.  That love has the ability to change me, not by force, but by placing in me the knowledge that the change would bring about the most beautiful peace in my soul that I could ever imagine.

Lord I thank You

  Lord I  thank You for what You have been teaching me.  I have learned, and am still learning, to take nothing for granted, to realize that things can be changed, but that Your perfect love is the engine that motivates change and that Your perfect peace is the feeling by which I recognize that change as having come from You.  Your Holy Spirit is teaching me that if I run from things that hurt or challenge, then it is for the very fact that these things hurt or challenge that You have brought them across my path.  If I run, hurt goes with me and challenge remains where I stood.
You have helped me, and are still helping me, to love not only those who love me, that is easy, but to love those who find it hard to love me, and to realiae that no one sees the whole picture of another's life, and that there is a common enemy that would seek to separate.  You do not ask me to love, You command me to love, and I thank You Lord for Your patience with me as I learn to love others as You love me.
I have loved the song 'Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord', and know that it is a very true message.
You have continued to encourage me to take every thought into captivity and see if it lines up with Your word spoken to me, and You have strengthened me often to act upon that word, even though my carnal mind may be questioning it.  I have come to know that Your wisdom is far greater than my own, and You are bringing me more and more to put my trust in it.  You have strengthened me in the past and are still strengthening me to believe that Your word has the power to bring into existance that which does not exist.
Ecclesiastes ch.11 verse seven says 'Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun.'  You are my heavenly warrior of light Lord, faithful and true, that rides upon a white horse, having 'king of kings and Lord of lords' written upon Your robe and thigh, as You slay my spiritual enemies with Your sword, and it is pleasant for my eyes to behold You.
Lord I continue to say 'Not my will, but Your will.  Not my truth, but Your truth.  Not my love, but Your love,' and contine to make these two prayers to You.

Examine my heart Lord, look to see
If what I see in others lies also in me
Examine my hands Lord see the work that I do
Does it say 'Look at me' or bring glory to You ?
Examine my mind Lord and the thoughts deep within
Are they righteous and holy or tempered with sin?
Lord take from this vessel that You wish to mould
All that is clay and replace it with gold

Increase the 'You' in me Lord, increase the solid rock
Increase the strength the Father sent to protect from every knock
Increase the 'You' in me Lord when I try to stand alone
Remind me that I'm still a child, that in You I'm not yet grown
Increase the 'You' in me Lord, take all my foolish pride
Take the 'me' that still remains in me and place the 'You' inside
Increase the 'You' in me Lord that when all is said and done
And people say 'Thank you, thank you', I'll say 'Not me...... God's Son'