Endless Praise

My praise shall be continually of Thee 
Psalm 71:6

The God of Abraham praise,
Who reigns enthroned above,
Ancient of everlasting days,
   And God of love.
Jehovah great I AM!
By earth and heaven confessed,
I bow, and bless the sacred name,
   For ever blest.

The God of Abraham praise,
At whose supreme command
From earth I rise, and seek the joys
   At His right hand.
I all on earth forsake,
Its wisdom, fame and power;
And Him my only portion make,
   My shield and tower.

He by Himself hath sworn,
I on His oath depend:
I shall, on eagle's wings upborne,
   To heaven ascend;
I shall behold His face,
I shall His power adore,
And sing the wonders of His grace
   for evermore.

There dwells the Lord our King,
the Lord our righteousness,
Triumphant o'er the world and sin,
   the Prince of Peace.
On Zion's sacred height
His kingdom He maintains,
And glorious with His saints in light
   For ever reigns.

The whole triumphant host
Give thanks to God on high;
"Hail Father, Son and Holy Ghost!"
   They ever cry.
Hail Abraham's God and mine!
(I join the heavenly lays),
All might and majesty are Thine,
   And endless praise.
Thomas Olivers 1725-99

Reader, I have never heard this hymn sung, that
I remember, but I am able to sing it. The hymn
is based on the Hebrew Yigdal. It has been some-
thing that I have turned to when life has taken a
downward turn. I have almost memorized it! The
words penetrate deeper than the surface where
one lives. It speaks forth truth to the inner man.

A short biography of this Welshman. He called
himself, "A brand plucked from the fire."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Olivers

The Lord He is God

We are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
Psalm 100:3

Before Jehovah's awful throne,
Ye nations, bow with sacred joy;
Know that the Lord is God alone;
He can create, and He destroy.

His sovereign power, without our aid,
Made us of clay, and formed us
   men;
And, when like wandering sheep we
   strayed,
He brought us to the fold again.

We are His people, we His care,--
 Our soul's and all our mortal frame:
What lasting honors shall we rear,
Almighty Maker, to Thy name?

We'll crowd Thy gates with thankful
   songs,
High as the heavens our voices raise;
And earth, with her ten thousand
   tongues,
Shall fill Thy courts with sounding
   praise.

Wide as the world is Thy command,
Vast as eternity Thy love;
Firm as a rock Thy truth shall stand,
When rolling years shall cease to
   move.
Isaac Watts  1674-1784
alt John Wesley 1703-91

Reader, as we see the nations shaking
and the foundations laid bare, we have
a God who is in control, One whose
love is boundless toward His own.

Here is a very detailed bio of the life
of Isaac Watts. What caught my atten-
tion is that his genius was contained
in a very weak sickly body.
https://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/bwatts7.html

A concise bio of the man who is con-
sidered the father of modern hymns.
ishttps://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-history-composers-and-performers-biographies/isaac-watts

Sowing in Tears

Those who sow in tears
Shall reap in joy.
He who continually goes forth weeping
Bearing seed for sowing
Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing
Bringing his sheaves with him.
Psalm 126:5, 6

Thoughts
Why the tears? Because the sower knows the lost
and desperate condition of those who are not
believers.

Continually, weeping? This must be the love and
compassion of our Lord that pours forth in tears
from our hearts with prayers back to Him.

Bearing seed for sowing? I see a weeping woman
whose arms are filled with seed--the Word of God--
which is spilling out on the ground of many soils,
which she wets with her tears. The woman goes
on often completely unaware of the results of her
labor.

The result.? She shall surely come back to the place
of sowing and will reap the harvest; her arms now
full of harvest; her heart full of joy.

Father, melt our hearts for the lost whose hope is
not in heaven, but in the very short time on earth--
and then what? Give us the seed that will become
hope as we sow the Gospel into the soil for we do
not know who is ready to hear. You are the Lord
of the harvest!

"In sweet abandon, You were used up and spilled
out for me..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pklUAB4E4nA

I Hear The Words of Love

Being justified by faith, we have peace with 
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Romans 5:1

I hear the words of love,
I gaze upon the blood,
I see the mighty sacrifice,
And I have peace with God.

'Tis everlasting peace!
Sure as Jehovah's name;
'Tis stable as His steadfast throne,
Forever more the same.
   
The clouds may come and go,
And storms may sweep my sky--
This blood-sealed friendship changes
   not:
The cross is ever nigh.

My love is oft times low,
My joy still ebbs and flows;
But peace with Him remains the same--
No change Jehovah knows.

I change, He changes not,
The Christ can never die;
His love, not mine, the resting place,
His truth, not mine, the tie.
Horatius Bonar 1808-89

Reader I am not sure if I used this old hymn
recently, but it doesn't matter. Someone needs
to hear this today.

I have just finished reading a biography of Bonar.
He was of the Reformed tradition who also be-
lieved in a Pre-Millenial Rapture! He knew John
Darby and both studied under the same man.
This is a good read!
https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eusebeia/03_023.pdf

Here is the hymn for those who remember our
IVCF days. I loved to sing it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhPGpNwguuU

Leadership

Be ye holy (complete, whole, full) even as I am holy. 
1 Peter 1:16

A Late Prophet Has Written:
It is a law of the human soul that most people tend 
to become like that which they admire most intensely.
Deep and long continued admiration can alter the
whole texture of the mind and heart and turn the de-
votee into something quite other than he was before.

For this reason it is critically important that we Chris-
tians should have right models. It is not enough to say
that our model should be Christ. While that is true, it
is also true that Christ is known mostly through the
lives of His professed followers, and the more promi-
nent and vocal these followers are the more powerful
will be their influence upon the rank and file of Chris-
tians. If the models are imperfect the whole standard
of Christian living must suffer as a result.

A sacred obligation lies upon each of us to be Christ-
like. This generation of Christians must have models
it can safely admire. That is not the primary reason
for seeking to be holy, but it is a powerful one. Many
beginners are taking us for their examples. Later they
will become detached from us and will learn to fix
their eyes directly upon the Lord Himself; in the mean-
time, for better or for worse we are their idea of what
Christ is like. This is a wonderful and frightening fact
that we must face and deal with as we may.
A W Tozer--1897-1963

Reader, Tozer is speaking of the Baby Boomer genera-
tion, of which I am one. Life was much simpler when
this man was alive, but even then, there was a need to
admonish leaders. We may not feel like leaders but
think of children, grandchildren and young adults who
are just beginning to walk through a maze of opportuni-
ties and who are trying to choose. Does your life reflect
the Savior? And, who are your role models? Are they
men and women who are true to scripture, still learning,
humble, Godly in character?

A biography of the man called Tozer:
http://www.awtozerclassics.com/page/page/4891821.htm

Be Filled

Be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Ephesians 5:18

One day in the city of New York--oh, what a day--I 
cannot describe it, I seldom refer to it--it is almost 
too sacred an experience to name. I can only say 
God revealed Himself to me, and I had such an ex-
perience of His love that I had to ask Him to stay 
His hand. I went to preaching again. The sermons 
were no different. I did not present any new ideas, 
yet hundreds were converted. I would not be placed 
back where I was before that blessed experience if 
you were to give me all Glasgow.
Dwight L Moody

Reader, this is what we need. A fresh empowerment
of the Holy Spirit. A deeper revelation of God!

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins
may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may
come from the presence of the Lord.  Acts 3:19

Repent means to turn and go another way. Ask God to
show you if there is anything blocking a fresh new ex-
perience of God's Life and Power. 

Promises

He has give us exceeding great and precious promises.
2 Peter 1:4

I became a believer in the Lord Jesus  in November,
1825, nearly seventy years ago. The first four years
after my conversion were spent in spiritual weak-
ness; but in July, 1829, now sixty six years ago, I
came to a place of entire and full surrender of heart.
I gave myself fully to the Lord. Honors, pleasure,
money, my physical powers, my mental powers, all
laid down at the feet of Jesus, and I became a great
lover of God. I found my all in God, and have con-
tinued to do so, in all my temporal and spiritual trials, 
for these past sixty six years. My faith does not per-
tain to only temporal bleassings, but to everything be-
cause I stand constantly on God's Word. It has been 
my knowledge of God and His Word that has thus 
sustained me. George Mueller

Reader, we will constantly stumble and fall if we do
not understand and embrace His exceeding great and
precious promises. For those who do not know the
man, George Mueller, take the time to read his bio.
We have so much to learn from those who have gone
before us. I am taking time this summer to draw near
to God as I wait and watch for His coming. I have
felt so dry lately, fearful and discouraged. How about
you?

I have found a wonderful expose of Mueller's life. I 
urge all of you who want to know God in a deeper
way to read it. 

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/george-muellers-strategy-for-showing-god