Archive for January 2018

Begin with God

2018-01-30 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Father, I look to You.
All that is began with You.
All that is flows from You –
all truth,
all beauty,
all goodness.
So I begin this day with You.

Father, how much truer,
how much clearer,
how much more loving
would my thoughts and desires be
if they always, only began with You?

Today, my Lord, may
every word and
every action
arise only from
love for You and
a longing for Your glory alone.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Lord, May Our Thoughts Begin with You
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

The Magnificent One

2018-01-28 Devotional with Hymn No comments

He is the Magnificent One,
transcendent,
high above,
separate, and
infinitely beyond.

He is pure,
perfect,
incomparable, and
absolutely glorious.

He is Supreme,
the Source of all being,
the Creator,
the Uncreated One.

Divine,
eternal,
majestic, and
exalted,
He is
always good,
always just, and
complete in Himself.

He is
the I AM.
He is
Holy God.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Worshiping Transcendent God
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Worship in the Book of Revelation

2018-01-25 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 1:4-8, 17-18; 4:8-11; 5:8-14;
7:9-12; 11:15-17; 15:3-4; 16:5-7; 19:1-7; 22:13, 16

The primary purpose of prophecy is not to give us a roadmap for the future but to give us God’s perspective. Through prophecy, the reality of God shatters our false, materialistic view of life. Through prophecy, we see Him as the focus of our daily world and our eternal destiny.

As a book of prophecy, Revelation exalts God as the center of life, as its Beginning and end, its Source and Goal. Thus it is not surprising that such a God-centered book is permeated with worship and praise. Reading through its praise passages, several basic truths become clear:

  1. Praise is a simple, honest acknowledgement that God is, and that He is who He says He is. Praise acknowledges God, what He has done, and what He is doing. We don’t need advanced intelligence or complex reasoning to praise God. Praise is simple faith’s response to God and the truth about Him:

    God is the Creator. All that is flows from Him.
    God is eternal, enveloping all the past, present, and future.
    God is the First and Last, the Beginning and the End and
    everything in-between. He is the All-in-all.
    God is holy, both transcendent and pure.
    God is our Redeemer. He saved us from sin through the death of His Son.
    God is worthy of all worship, power, wisdom, riches, and glory.
    In His own perfect time, God will re-assert His complete control over creation and will judge our world in righteousness.

  1. As we focus on God, praise draws us deeper and deeper into His magnificence. Seeing God, we think and talk less about ourselves and more about Him.
  1. Among those who know and trust God, praise is contagious. Praise often causes other believers to join in the praise. Praise spreads. Praise will crescendo until it envelops all creation (Revelation 5:8-14).

Do you long to praise God in a way that is pleasing to Him? Immerse yourself in the praise and worship of Revelation.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Revelation Worship
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

A Thankful Heart

2018-01-23 Hymns No comments

A Hymn based on
Mark 10:13-16; Colossians 3:15, 17; 1 John 3:18; 4:7-21

Recording
Printed Music

A thankful heart, a thankful heart,
Lord, grow in me a thankful heart.
So many gifts You give each day!
I ask one more: a thankful heart.

A simple faith, a simple faith,
For every need, a simple faith.
Father, You hold me in Your arms,
So give Your child a simple faith.

A life of love, a life of love,
In Jesus Christ a life of love.
Lord, as I live and breathe in You,
This wealth is mine: a life of love.

A thankful heart, a simple faith,
A life of love in You each day
Till we are one and face to face
And all is joy and endless praise!

God Our Fullness

2018-01-21 Devotional with Hymn No comments

We are inherently, inescapably needy.
We are not self-sufficient and never can be.
We forever have needs outside ourselves –
food,
water,
air,
temperature control,
companionship, and
so much more.
We are fragile creatures,
never self-contained,
designed to be dependent,
designed to be incomplete.

Sovereign God, You are complete in Yourself.
You are all power,
all wisdom,
all life,
all truth, and
all rightness.
You are self-contained.
You need nothing.
You lack nothing.
You are full to overflowing.
You give of Yourself
constantly,
lavishly,
lovingly.

O God of all,
we need You.
Only in Your fullness can we be complete.
Only in Your wisdom can we think aright.
Only in Your power can we
be who we need to be.
Only in You are we
pure and
at peace.
Only in You are we
loved,
honored, and
truly, deeply satisfied.

Only in You, Father.
Only in You.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: All-in-all
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Grace and Peace

2018-01-18 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A prayer response to Revelation 1:4,
“Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and
who was and who is to come” (NASB).

Father, You are forever eager to pour out on me
Your grace,
the rich goodness and tender kindness that
I don’t deserve and
can never deserve.

You are forever working, forever reaching to fill me with
Your peace,
Your complete well-being.
You want to share with me and with all of us
the wholeness,
the harmony,
the uninterrupted, undiminished love that flows among
Father,
Son, and
Spirit.

This grace and peace pour from You,
who embrace
all time,
all being,
all past, present, and future
in Yourself,
perfect in power,
perfect in loving,
perfect in knowing.
You know me with an understanding that is
permeated with perfect love.

Father, today I receive
Your grace,
Your peace,
Your knowing,
Your all-encompassing embrace.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Holy Father, Only You
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

I Have a Seed

2018-01-16 Devotional with Hymn No comments

I don’t have a world to build or
kingdoms to conquer.
I have a seed to sow –
a seed of
love and
life and
peace.

Loving God,
let me sow it
joyfully and generously,
fervently and faithfully,
knowing that You, Lord,
will bring an abundant harvest.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Bless This Seed
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

See the Father Walk among Us

2018-01-14 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Father, You are
high and holy,
transcendent and unseen,
great beyond all imagination.
Yet in Jesus Christ we see You as a
real,
touchable,
walking,
smiling,
speaking human being.
How amazing You are!
How can we help but
love You and
want to be like You!

Listen and sing:
Hymn: See the Father Walk among Us
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Urgent!

2018-01-11 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A reflection on Revelation 1:1-3,
the prologue to the book. 

Our Sovereign God is calling us.
He is calling us to
simple faith and
complete obedience.
He is calling us to Himself.

To call us, He is using the very best of
all He has and
all He is.
He is calling us through the
life,
death,
resurrection, and
exaltation of His only Son, Jesus Christ.

The stakes are high.
Eternal life and eternal death
hang in the balance for us.
No one knows when Christ will return and
our decision will suddenly become irrevocable.
Life is uncertain
for ourselves and
for the loved ones for whom we deeply desire all the best.

The reward is great beyond our imagining.
The Father promises the fullness of Himself
to those who answer the call.
He promises Jesus Christ –
His life,
His love,
His holy perfection,
His eternal glory.

The all-wise, all-loving Lord of all begs us to give His call
top priority
now.
We dare not ignore Him.

We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard.
How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? (Hebrews 2:1, 3, NIV)

Listen and sing:
Hymn: When Jesus Speaks
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Lord of Time

2018-01-09 Hymns No comments

A Hymn based on
Psalm 31:14-15; John 15:5; Ephesians 5:15-16

Recording
Printed Music

I fight with time. I rush. I wait.
I plan. I press. I stay up late.
I try so hard to regulate
What only You control.

Great Lord of time, above its flow,
You give us time to change, to grow,
To learn to live the love we owe
To You, all-gracious God!

In Christ we learn what time can be:
A frame for love unrushed and free,
The pure and perfect harmony
Of life immersed in You.

The fruitfulness that we pursue
Flows not from what our plans can do
But Lord, from living all in You,
The ever-fruitful Vine.

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