Phos Hilaron

Hail, gladdening Light, of his pure glory poured,
Who is the immortal Father, heavenly, blest,
Holiest of holies, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now we are come to the sun's hour of rest,
The lights of evening round us shine,
We hymn the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit divine.

Worthiest art thou at all times to be sung
With undefiled tongue,
Son of our God, giver of life, alone:
Therefore in all the world they glories, Lord, they own.

His STEADFAST LOVE endures forever

I looked it up. . . isn't it intriguing that the first occurance of "steadfast love" is in Genesis 24 where God presents Rebekah to Isaac.



But it occurs so many times. . . like in my favorite verse.

Psalm 63.3
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.

But, lately it seems like every time I got to church, read, talk with a friend, or do anything that is scripture related--there it is.

As it turns out, it occurs 202 times. That seems like it's a pretty important concept.

And I obviously don't get it!

For starters, He promises to keep His steadfast love to those who keep His commandments. He can take His steadfast love away, just like He did for King Saul; He keeps His steadfast love for those who walk before Him with all their hearts; I can enter His house because of His steadfast love; All His paths are steadfast love; His steadfast love surrounds those who trust in Him; Steadfast love belongs to Him; It is better than life; I should make it known to all generations; It goes before Him; My steadfast love is with Him; It will satisfy me in the morning; It upholds me; As high as the heavens are above the earth, so is His steadfast love towards those who fear Him; It is from everlasting to everlasting; My enemies will be cut off in His steadfast love; He is my steadfast love; It never ceases; He desires it more than sacrifice; HIS STEADFAST LOVE ENDURES FOREVER!

By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
Psalm 42.8

Third Time Is A Charm?

You know when the Lord takes a verse you have never thought much about, and he puts it in your face several times within a short amount of time. That has happened to me lately, and now I have to ask--Lord am I seeking the water that does not satisfy.

Labor day weekend I went on a beach retreat and the speaker talked a lot about God's purpose for our lives. Not necessarily His purpose in our occupation--but His Grand Design. One of the sessions focused on some verses from Jeremiah chapter 2.
The "ironic" part is, several months ago as I was reading in Jeremiah, the Lord showed me this verse and I highlighted it and drew a big circle around it, but it obviously did not sink in.

Jeremiah 2:11-13
Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

So, I thought a lot about this verse that weekend. And then, exactly a week later, our Pastor was teaching on praying in depressing times and he referenced this same verse.

Then, my friends sent me this exerpt from Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening yesterday.

THE LORD IS A JEALOUS AND AVENGING GOD.
NAHUM 1:2
Believer, your Lord is very jealous of your love. Did He choose you? He cannot bear that you should choose another.
Did He buy you with His own blood? He cannot endure that you should think you are your own or that you belong to this world.
He loved you with such a love that He would not remain in heaven without you;
He would sooner die than have you perish, and He cannot endure that anything should stand between your heart's love and Himself.
He is very jealous of your trust. He will not permit you to trust in yourself. He cannot stand the thought of you hewing out broken cisterns and neglecting the overflowing fountain that is always free to you.
When we lean upon Him, He is glad; but when we transfer our dependence to another, when we rely upon our own wisdom or the wisdom of a friend-worst of all, when we trust in any works of our own-He is displeased and will chasten us, that He may bring us to Himself.
He is also very jealous of our company. There should be no one with whom we converse so much as with Jesus.
To remain in Him alone, this is true love; but to commune with the world, to find sufficient satisfaction in our earthly comforts, to even prefer the company of our fellow Christians to secret fellowship with Him, this grieves our jealous Lord.
He longs to have us abide in Him and enjoy constant fellowship with Himself; and many of the trials that He sends us are for the purpose of weaning our hearts from created things and fixing them more closely on Him who created everything. Let this jealousy that would keep us near to Christ also be a comfort to us, for if He loves us so much as to care about our love, we may be sure that He will allow nothing to harm us and will protect us from all our enemies. May we have grace today to keep our hearts in holy purity for Christ alone,
with sacred jealousy closing our eyes to all the fascinations of the world.

So, what does all this mean? Have I turned my back on the fountain of living water? May it never be! Have I hewn out for myself broken cisterns? I pray it isn't so. But Lord, what are you saying? You have promised that your Word does not return void--it accomplishes the purpose you sent it out for. All scripture is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness. . .

You Must Increase

I lift you high and bow down low
How high can You be?
How low can I go?

You must increase I must decrease Lord
I'll bow down and You will be adored

Matt Redman