Agony - Leonard Ravenhill

If you've read my posts, you'll know that I regard an eternal perspective as a very precious treasure.  How do I or anybody else obtain it?  Partly by listening to sermons - or excerpts of sermons - like the one below.

All For Jesus - Hymn

I couldn't find the author's name.  But here it is: an excellent hymn.


All for Jesus, all for Jesus!
All my being’s ransomed powers:
All my thoughts and words and doings,
All my days and all my hours.

All for Jesus! All for Jesus!
All my days and all my hours;
All for Jesus! All for Jesus!
All my days and all my hours.

Let my hands perform His bidding,
Let my feet run in His ways;
Let my eyes see Jesus only,
Let my lips speak forth His praise.

Worldlings prize their gems of beauty,
Cling to gilded toys of dust,
Boast of wealth and fame and pleasure;
Only Jesus will I trust.

Since my eyes were fixed on Jesus,
I’ve lost sight of all beside;
So enchained my spirit’s vision,
Looking at the Crucified.

Oh, what wonder! how amazing!
Jesus, glorious King of kings,
Deigns to call me His belovèd,
Lets me rest beneath His wings.

The Harlot - Misty Edwards

A beautiful song.  Very long I know; but the description is vivid, and the message is priceless.  This was you.  This was me.  And that is Him taking our punishment, grafting us in to His family.  He declares to His Father, "This one...is mine!" And to us, "What's yours is mine and what's mine is yours."

We are not Uninformed, Underprivileged Acquaintances; We are Sons!

It is a great encouragement to me that I have been called a son; a title - more rightly called an identity - which implies trust, confidence, and responsibility.  The knowledge of this simple fact (simple in that it is simply true) and its perpetual work of shaping and molding my life, imparts great confidence and joy.  Yet there is something remarkably wonderful about this sonship into which I have entered that, many times, I find myself guilty of neglecting.  That is, we are sons, "..according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace..."  Yes, this is what gives me the greatest joy of all: my functioning as a son, my living it out both in the commonplace and the extraordinary, gives HIM glory, and testifies to the riches and power of HIS grace.

When I operate in my identity, it brings a big, big smile to His face; and suddenly a laugh erupts from inside Him, a deep belly-laugh, and resonates throughout heaven; and pretty soon He just can't help Himself and He's dancing in circles, jumping up and down, and shouting, "That's him!  That's my son, Thomas!  Wow do I love him!

And we are not passive sons, living in the shadow of our Father.  No, He caused the riches of His grace to abound toward us in ALL wisdom and prudence.  He made known to us the mystery of His will; and it was His good pleasure to do those things.

Of course it is all about Him: everything is to His praise and glory; but my point is that He has given US (not "United States" by the way :) the keys to the Kingdom!  He has made US stewards of mysteries!  We have been given responsibility!

In this knowledge, I will not doubt or fear.  I won't let insecurities rule me in any fashion.  But by that into which I have been called, through His wonderful grace, I slip out of the bondage...and into a new, white garment; I step out of the darkness...and into the light: the glorious riches in Christ.

Perspective

I had someone ask me once, "How many people will be brought into God's Kingdom and discipled through you this year?"

What a penetrating question!  Wouldn't you agree?

I say, let's keep our feet moving, our hands healing, our eyes seeing, our mouths praying, and our hearts understanding.  Let's make sure our lives speak of the One who transformed them, and testify to His reality.  And when the opportunity reveals itself, step out.  Give that which has been implanted in you to give.  Steward the mysteries of God and the beauties of His grace (1 Corinthians 4:1-5).  Think, breathe, speak the life which is inside you.  And remember, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts..." (Psalm 95:7b-8a)

Let's be Redeemer's of the times!

2012!!!

Is it just me, or does 12 look a lot cooler attached to 20 than does 11?

Motivations

I've been thinking in the context of this new year in the context of eternity, and I've concluded that the purity of my motivations is very delicate and a very precious thing to the Lord.  I pray I pursue it wholeheartedly!  And I challenge you to do the same!