Hymn Devotions Day 19 – We Have Heard The Joyful Sound

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DAY 19 – WE HAVE HEARD THE JOYFUL SOUND

Is there any message more wonderful than that of “Jesus saves?” As we receive the blessedness of redemption, we cannot help but to spread this gospel, this good news, to every land.

It is a message for people everywhere, in every land. It is a message that transcends cultures, language barriers, economic barriers, racial barriers. Lost, spiritually blind, dead in their trespasses and sins, dying without hope, people need this message. They need this message more than they need any other message because it brings the hope of God to their lives. It is appropriate to shout at births – Jesus saves. It is appropriate to shout at funerals – Jesus saves from eternal damnation! Look to Jesus and live.

How can we keep such a wonderful message to ourselves? When millions shall walk in gloomy darkness, how can we not share the gospel light? Jesus, and only Jesus, saves. Don’t look to anything else, only Jesus. Don’t rely on anyone or anything else, only Jesus. There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved but Jesus’. Shout salvation full and free to all who will listen, because it is our song of victory over sin and death, Jesus saves!

 

            Lord, help me to be faithful in proclaiming the message of salvation to everyone. Let me be unashamed to proclaim “Jesus saves” to every person I meet. Help me to be not just filled with compassion for the lost, but moved to action by proclaiming the way of salvation through the person of Jesus Christ.

 WE HAVE HEARD THE JOYFUL SOUND – Priscilla Owens

We have heard the joyful sound

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

Spread the tidings all around

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

Bear the news to every land

Climb the steeps and cross the waves

Onward! ’tis our Lord’s command

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

Waft it on the rolling tide

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

Tell to sinners far and wide

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

Sing ye islands of the sea

Echo back, ye ocean caves

Earth shall keep her jubilee

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

 

Sing above the battle strife

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

By His death and endless life

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

Sing it softly through the gloom

When the heart for mercy craves

Sing in triumph o’er the tomb

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

 

Give the winds a mighty voice

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

Let the nations now rejoice

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

Shout salvation full and free

Highest hills and deepest caves

This our song of victory

Jesus saves! Jesus saves!

Hymn Devotions Day 18 – When I Survey The Wondrous Cross

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DAY 18 – WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS

               Of all of Isaac Watts’ hymns, this one is probably my favorite. Great words of truth mixed with a fantastic melody, this hymn is well worth singing regularly.

I particularly love the second stanza. There is nothing any of us have to boast about except our Lord. Are we brilliant? God gave us our intellect. Are we strong? God fashioned our body. Are we successful? God has blessed us.

All we are we owe to our Creator, especially our salvation. In God’s plan, in God’s time, in God’s power, He redeemed us to Himself through His Son. Salvation, as Jonah stated, is from the Lord.

Everything this world has to charm us with is nothing compared to what awaits us in glory. Why should I take my eyes off eternal perfection for temporal things? Truly, no offering I can give is enough. If I had, as the fourth verse states, everything in the world, it still would not be too great an offering to give. But what I do have, my life, I give freely to the One who is worthy of worship, the Lord Jesus Christ.

            Lord, reading again of Your Son’s death on the cross to pay the price for my sins, brings me both great sorrow and gratitude. Sorrow that I, like all other humans, failed to live up to Your holy standards; gratitude that You took it upon Yourself to pay my penalty. I can never repay You. I can only say, “Thank You.” Take my life. You created me, You bought me, take what is rightfully Yours.

 WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS – Isaac Watts

 

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of Glory died

My richest gain I count but loss

And pour contempt on all my pride

 

Forbid it Lord, that I should boast

Save in the death of Christ my God

All the vain things that charm me most

I sacrifice them to His blood

 

See, from His head, His hands, His feet

Sorrow and love flow mingled down

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet

Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

 

Were the whole realm of nature mine

That were an offering far too small

Love so amazing, so divine

Demands my soul, my life, my all

 

 

Hymn Devotions Day 17 – Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated

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DAY 17  – TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE

                This hymn is a great daily prayer. What a way to start off each morning – asking God to help us consecrate our life to Him. Let us praise Him each day for He is worthy.

               It is a great privilege, a noble request for us, to ask Him to use all of our being in His service. From my hands and feet, my speech, my financial resources, my mind, love and will; all that I am and have. Nothing less will do for my King of Glory than my all.

I need the Holy Spirit’s power to constantly, consistently yield myself to God. I need His power to submit my unruly will to His. I need His might to break my stubborn, selfish heart. With all that is within me, I desire to praise His holy name. I long for Him to fully transform me into His image.

One of the phrases I appreciate from this song is found in verse one. The prayer is for God to take both our moments and our days and have them  become a seamless flow of praise. Another phrase really jumps out too, probably because I am a minister – Take my lips and let them be, filled with messages from Thee. Oh, yes, let us all bring to a lost and dying world a message from God. To use our mouth in this method is a great way of praising and honoring our God.  Right now seems a good moment to start.

 

            Lord, take all that I am and let me praise You. Take every part of my life because You alone are worthy to be praised. You gave me life and breath – let me use that breath and life to glorify Your name. Accept my offer of praise for Your greatness, majesty and power.

 

TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE – Francis Ridley Havergal

 

Take my life and let it be

Consecrated, Lord to Thee

Take my moments and my days

Let them flow in ceaseless praise

Let them flow in ceaseless praise

 

Take my hands and let them move

At the impulse of Thy love

Take my feet and let them be

Swift and beautiful for Thee

Swift and beautiful for Thee

 

Take my voice and let me sing

Always, only for my King

Take my lips and let them be

Filled with messages from Thee

Filled with messages from Thee

 

Take my silver and my gold

Not a mite would I withhold

Take my intellect and use

Every power as Thou shalt choose

Every power as Thou shalt choose

 

Take my love, my Lord, I pour

At Thy feet its treasure store

Take myself and I will be

Ever, only, all for Thee

Ever, only, all for Thee

 

Take my will and make it Thine

It shall be no longer mine

Take my heart, it is Thy own

It shall be Thy royal throne

It shall be Thy royal throne

Great Quotes From Ages Past #10

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In Christ, as a great storehouse, lie all the riches of spiritual wisdom, the massive ingots of solid gold which when coined into creeds and doctrines are the wealth of the Church.  All which we can know concerning God and man, concerning sin and righteousness and duty, concerning another life, is in Him Who is the home and deep mine where truth is stored… The central fact of the universe and the perfect encyclopedia of all moral and spiritual truth is in Christ, the Incarnate Word, the Lamb slain, the ascended King.

 

Alexander MacLaren

 

Free Resource – Is Jesus Enough? for Kindle

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Today through Sunday we are offering our book Is Jesus Enough? free for the Kindle or Kindle for PC.

http://www.amazon.com/Is-Jesus-Enough-ebook/dp/B004GNFHVY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1349475169&sr=8-2&keywords=is+jesus+enough

This book has sold thousands worldwide and is available in print both in English and Chinese. For this special weekend, we are offering the English Kindle version free.

If you do not have the free Kindle for PC app, please go here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd?docId=1000426311

Great Quotes From Ages Past #9

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Here is a great quote from the “Prince of Preachers”

If you have been truly born again you have a new and holy nature, and you are no longer moved towards sinful objects as you were before. The things that you once loved you now hate, and therefore you will not run after them.  You can hardly understand it but so it is that your thoughts and tastes are radically changed. You long for that very holiness which once it was irksome to hear of; and you loathe those vain pursuits which were once your delights. The man who puts his trust in the Lord sees the pleasures of sin in a new light.  For he sees the evil which follows them by noting the agonies which they brought upon our Lord when He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Without faith a man says to himself, “This sin is a very pleasant thing, why should I not enjoy it? Surely I may eat this fruit, which looks so charming and is so much to be desired.” The flesh sees honey in the drink, but faith at once perceives that there is poison in the cup. Faith spies the snake in the grass and gives warning of it. Faith remembers death, judgment, the great reward, the just punishment and that dread word, eternity.

C.H. Spurgeon

Great Quotes From Ages Past #8

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A double helping of quotes this morning, these on the subject of anger:

A man who does not know how to be angry does not know how to be good.  And a man that does not know how to be shaken to his heart’s core with indignation over things evil is either a fungus or a wicked man.

 Henry Ward Beecher

If we would be angry and not sin (says one), we must be angry at nothing but sin; and we should be more jealous for the glory of God than for any interest or reputation of our own.

Matthew Henry

Great Quotes From Ages Past #7

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This is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite preachers – Jonathan Edwards

 

“Spiritual emotions result in Christian practice because their object is the loveliness of spiritual things, not our self-interest. People have a defective Christianity because they are seeking their own interests in it, not God’s. So they accept Christianity only to the extent that they think it serves their interests. By contrast, a person who accepts it for its own excellent and lovely nature, accepts everything which has that nature.”

Traveling – Newsletter delayed

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For the next few days I will be traveling to conferences, so the release of the October newsletter will be delayed. Thank you for understanding and your patience. Exciting things are in store for Ta Ethne in 2013, so stay tuned. This weekend will bring a free resource for our followers – an opportunity to download a free kindle copy of Is Jesus Enough?, our first book that has sold thousands of copies worldwide and opened up many speaking engagements.

Look for the link for your copy this weekend – and may God bless