The good news of Christ
Your will, heavenly Father, is good and holy and pleasant and brings great blessing to all who submit to it. What a joy to know and do your bidding!
Forgive my shortcomings, cleanse me from my failures, let my sins be washed by the blood of your Son and our Savior Jesus Christ.
Perfect me by your grace, make my obedience complete in Christ, strengthen every good resolve and make me able for every good work by your Spirit. Continue reading “When everything seems up in the air”
O God, I need you! Every hour and day, in every way!
Nothing, no one, can replace your presence in my life!
Keep schemes of Satan from crowding out the word of Spirit’s truth,
Or times of prayer — oh, needed season of prayer! — to praise and seek
Your blessed, holy face — encroaching thieves of precious time;
Lord, help me guard with care the hearing and speaking of our communion.
And let this conversation color every act and word,
That others may note that I have been with Jesus, my Lord and God!
Heavenly Father, in our security, let us not refuse to listen to you. In our insecurity, let us not seek solutions which solve nothing but only exacerbate our tenuous situation.
We would lead others to you as a shepherd guides his sheep to water and pasture. Make us faithful followers by whose example and teaching others may reach you and hear your call. Continue reading “May none of your flock go missing”
We want to be perfect from the start, but you, O Lord, work in us to make us perfect in the end.
We open our hearts that you may have free rein and that your Spirit may work at will. Continue reading “Stiffen our spines against the Evil One”
Each time beloved brethren meet,
Help me, O Lord, fulfill a need:
To wash a brother’s or sister’s feet,
To give a cup of water or feed
A hungry soul, to cheerfully greet
The lonely or broken heart, to guide
The lost and erring, for whom Christ died. Continue reading “Each Time We Meet”
The soul is barren, Lord, and all around is desert sand,
Relief is far away, no one to help or lend a hand,
To breathe is pain, to move or think requires tremendous force,
I have no power within, no means to seek another source.
Come save me, O Almighty! Reach me by your mighty arm!
Come quickly, many are they of Satan’s horde to do me harm!
Come rescue me — dying in the dark and bottomless pit!
Until redeemed, for love and life and work I’m most unfit.
O ageless God, before the times began,
Your Spirit hovered above the world of man.
How small are we! How great your upraised hand!
The highest mountains flee at your command,
The valleys hide, with tremors in the land. Continue reading “You Look upon Us, with Mercy’s Eye”
Fade all desire for pleasure of sin —
Oh! Wash me clean, the heart within,
Dear God, come near, for I repent
Of shameful deeds, with deep lament. Continue reading “Fade all desire”
Praise to you, O Lord, for bringing eternal life to us in your Son Jesus Christ! Thank you for revealing it to us in him, and making it available to anyone willing to believe and obey.
We praise you for being the unchanging God who does not change at a whim your plan of salvation. We are grateful that we can know with certainty how to enter and remain in Christ, and for the power of the Spirit given to us in our new birth. Continue reading “This life above all else”
Let change for good, O God, begin with me!
To me give words of power to save and build.
By your delight a different man I’d be:
May I with your desire to bless be filled. Continue reading “Let change for good begin with me”