Archive for May 2019

The Power to Choose

2019-05-31 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

God said, “Let Us make man in Our Image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth.” (Genesis 1:26, NASB)

God is sovereign over all reality. All matter was created by Him and responds to His Word. He speaks, and all that is obeys. He says, “Let there be…”, and worlds spring into being.

But to us human beings, made in His image, He delegates the power to choose, within set boundaries. As Sovereign God, He gives us the privilege and responsibility of making decisions – real decisions, with real consequences.

Put yourself in our Heavenly Father’s position. As parents, we deeply desire a close, loving relationship with each of our children in all their individuality. But we cannot compel such a relationship, and we wouldn’t want to. We want our children to love and trust us freely, by their own choice. We want them to want to be with us. We do everything we can to nurture and encourage such a choice, but in the end we honor what the child chooses. It’s not the kind of decision we can ignore or override, no matter how much we want to.

Our Heavenly Father is the same. He does all He can to bring us to Himself. Even in our sinful weakness and blindness, He gives us the grace to choose Him. But He does not compel it, and in the end, He honors our choice. If we respond to His grace with even the feeblest desire to love and trust Him, He will move heaven and earth to lead us into full union with Himself.

But if we choose separation from Him, He will at last honor our decision, completely and eternally.

He is forever the only source of life, light, goodness, peace, and love. Imagine the results of final and complete separation from Him. Choose wisely!

Heaven and hell,
now and forever
are determined by our relationship with
God, the Source of all good.
We choose to be near Him or
to keep our distance.
Choose Him.
Talk to Him.
Trust Him.
Walk in His presence.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Free to Choose
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Eternal Light

2019-05-29 Hymns No comments

In Jesus Christ
we are welcomed in the
very presence of
holy, transcendent God!

Recording
Printed Music 

Eternal Light! Eternal Light!
What soul can bear Your searching sight?
What heart, so open, pure, and true,
Can live and calmly gaze on You?

The glowing spirits round Your throne
All serve where sin is never known.
Their eyes can bear the burning bliss
Beyond a darkened world like this.

But how can I, a native here,
Before Your blazing eyes appear?
Can I, a creature of the night,
Endure Your uncreated light?

Praise God, You come to us in Christ!
In Him our darkness all is light!
O Fire of all-consuming grace,
In Christ we stand here face to face!

 

by Thomas Binney and Ken Bible, © 2007 LNWhymns.com

ThinkSingPray

2019-05-27 ThinkSingPray No comments
ThinkSingPray 

about 

Growing in Christ 2 

 

Monday –      Hold Steady While He Works
         Hymn: Keep Us Strong in Faith (recording) (printed)

Tuesday –     How Can We Describe It?
         Hymn: Beyond Imagination (recording) (printed)

Wednesday – Growing Me to You
         Hymn: Walking with You (recording) (printed)

Thursday –    Knowing Jesus Better
         Hymn: I Want to Know You (recording) (printed)

Friday –          One with Christ
         Hymn: In Your Spirit (recording) (printed)

Saturday –     More and More
         Hymn: Only You (recording) (printed)

 

for more, visit
ThinkSingPray
at KenBible.com

The Gift of Life

2019-05-24 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

With You is the fountain of life. (Psalm 36:9, NASB)

Do you believe the whole universe simply came to be, with no cause or creator? Do you believe that all the matter in all the stars in all the vastness of space had no source? Do you believe that the well-ordered laws of nature somehow just happened on their own?

What about life? Your body is a miracle. It is made up of billions of microscopic cells, each alive, each intricately constructed, each carrying on complex functions that no factory or laboratory can match. And somehow they all perform together in a magnificent dance that keeps your body working around the clock, without you even being conscious of it.

You didn’t ask to be born. You didn’t create yourself. You do little to keep yourself alive. Most of your essential physical functions operate automatically, requiring no conscious effort on your part. Virtually all you have to do is feed and water yourself, and for that you’ve been given powerful, built-in drives.

Quite literally, life is a gift. Your life is a gift. Each human life is a precious gift.

How should we respond to this gift of life? We should receive it with awe…with reverence…with joyful gratitude…with sober thought for how we treat this life in ourselves and in others.

We should receive this gift with love. Life was given with love, and we should receive it with love – love for our Creator and love for His life in each human creation around us. Love preserves life, enriches life, and treats it with the care and respect that it deserves.

Father, help me to see other people,
not as physical creatures,
not as crumbling shells, shallow and temporary,
but as You see them,
as living, eternal beings.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Praise to You, Giver of Life!
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Come, Our Lord!

2019-05-22 Hymns No comments

Lift your eyes to the
new creation!

Recording
Printed Music 

Lift up your eyes
To the earth we now can see.
Lift up your hearts
To the world that soon will be.
Life will be new,
And its sorrows come no more.
We hunger for Your new creation.
Come, our Lord!
“I’m coming! I’m coming
To the loved ones I adore.”
We hear Your voice and trust Your promise.
Come, our Lord!

See all the joy
On the Father’s smiling face.
Come, feel the warmth
Of eternal love’s embrace.
Taste all the fruits
Of an Eden now restored.
We sing the hope that rises in us:
Come, our Lord!
“I’m coming! I’m coming
To be with you evermore.”
We hear Your voice and trust Your promise.
Come, our Lord!

Come, join the meal,
With the family all around.
Come, drink the wine
Of a love now more profound.
Breathe all the peace
Of His blessings now outpoured.
The Morning Star is brightly shining.
Come, our Lord!
“I’m coming! I’m coming,
So be patient through the storm.”
We hear Your voice and trust Your promise.
Come, our Lord!

 

by Ken Bible, © 2005 LNWhymns.com

ThinkSingPray

2019-05-20 ThinkSingPray No comments
ThinkSingPray 

about 

Growing in Christ 1 

 

Monday –      The Miracle of Growth
         Hymn: Growing in Me (recording) (printed)

Tuesday –     Consider the Seed
         Hymn: Bless This Seed (recording) (printed)

Wednesday – Your Kingdom Grows
         Hymn: Hidden Treasure (recording) (printed)

Thursday –    Grow Us in Christ
         Hymn: We Are Trusting in the Lord (recording) (printed)

Friday –          Care for Your Precious Plant
         Hymn: Everything I Need (recording) (printed)

Saturday –     Prune Me
         Hymn: Life in the Vine (recording) (printed)

 

for more, visit
ThinkSingPray
at KenBible.com

Know Your Creator

2019-05-17 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands. (Psalm 19:1, NIV)

God is an all-powerful Spirit Being. He created us as physical beings. How could He reveal Himself to us in a way we could understand? How could He show Himself to each of us in a way that is unlimited by language and culture and that is undiminished by all the changes that swirl around us?

He reveals Himself by the physical world of which we are a part.

What may be known about God is plain…For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20, NIV)

Any open-minded view of our physical world tells us about God. But even though He has made Himself plain, we observe and experience His creation without knowing Him. How does this happen?

We intentionally suppress the truth (Romans 1:18).  We refuse to accept Him as Creator. We work to write Him out of our story. We insist on making this physical world our ultimate reality, though actually it is but a small part of a much greater reality. We crown ourselves as the gods of our own lives and destinies, even though our smallness and weakness is inescapably obvious.

Meanwhile, God’s glorious revelations of Himself go on speaking to all who will hear.

Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
(Psalm 19:2-4, NIV)

Observe our world and experience it with an open mind. See and feel the order, the pleasure, the beauty, the mystery, the power, and the infinite wisdom that connects it all. All this is only the faintest whisper of the magnificent Being that He is (Job 26:14).

He wants you to know Him, to trust Him more completely, and to experience life more fully in Him.

Father Creator,
help me to joyfully give You
all that is Yours:
my mind,
my life, and
all that I hold. 

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Speak, I Am Listening
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Christ in Psalm 8

2019-05-15 Hymns No comments

In Jesus Christ we see
the full glory of the Father and
the full glory He is lavishing on us,
His human children.

Recording
Printed Music 

Creator, boundless God,
You fill and overflow
The glories all can see
But none can fully know.
And now in Christ, the Morning Star,
And now in Christ, the Morning Star,
You shine the light of all You are.

In Christ, the simplest child,
The weakest of our race,
Can speak the mighty truth,
Can praise You face-to-face.
Your glory, thundered all above,
Your glory, thundered all above,
Re-echoes here in lives of love.

Beneath the boundless sky,
So vast, so deep, so far,
We wonder at our God!
We glimpse how great You are!
So who are we that You should care,
So who are we that You should care,
Delighting in our simplest prayer?

And yet, in Jesus Christ
You freely share Yourself –
Your life, Your mind, Your heart,
Your love and all its wealth.
O God, may all the world proclaim,
O God, may all the world proclaim
Your great and good and glorious name!

 

by Ken Bible, © 2018 LNWhymns.com

 

ThinkSingPray

2019-05-13 ThinkSingPray No comments
ThinkSingPray 

about 

Living in Christ 3 

 

Monday –      Living God
         Hymn: Lead Me On (recording) (printed)

Tuesday –     Taking Thoughts Captive
         Hymn: I Fix My Thoughts on You (recording) (printed)

Wednesday – Thank You!
         Hymn: Constant Love (recording) (printed)

Thursday –    Seeking Me
         Hymn: Seeking Me (recording) (printed)

Friday –          Working and Resting in You
         Hymn: Lord of Time (recording) (printed)

Saturday –     Moment by Moment
         Hymn: Like Christ, in Christ (recording) (printed)

 

for more, visit
ThinkSingPray
at KenBible.com

What Do You Worship?

2019-05-10 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

“I am the Lord your God. . . . You shall have no other gods before me.”
(Exodus 20:2-3, NIV)

“The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods.”
(Psalm 16:4, NIV)

We all seek security. We want our lives to have significance. We want to achieve. We crave a sense of meaning and fulfillment.

How are we seeking those things? On what are you focusing your hopes and energies? A house? A job? Comfort? The praise of other people?

What are you worshiping? Who are you serving?

We are children of the Creator. We have His life within us. He has patterned us after Himself. And He has planted in our hearts a yearning for something beyond what we can touch. He has given us a deep longing for the eternal.

He wants us to know Him. He wants us to share His life fully. He keeps prodding us to seek Him, to love Him and trust Him as our Father. Of all the guidance He has given us, He says that the most important thing in life is this: 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12:30, NIV)

That is the key to happiness.

Yet we worship the temporary. We devote ourselves to what can’t possibly satisfy our deep desires. We fashion gods from created things. What was written 2,700 years ago still applies to us: 

They pour out their money. They hire a craftsman to make a god for them, then they bow down and worship it. They lift it up and carry it – it cannot carry them. They care for it – it does not care for them. They put it in its place, and there it stays – it cannot move. Though they cry out to it, it does not answer. It cannot save them from their troubles. 

Remember this, fix it in your minds: I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me. (Isaiah 46:6-9, para.)

We are like selfish, rebellious children. Anxious to have complete “freedom,” impatient to fulfill our every desire, we turn our backs on the love that gave us life. We reject the wisdom that taught us and nurtured us. Instead we chase things that can’t possibly help us and can only drag us down. Our “gods” are a burden and a false hope. They don’t carry us. We carry them.

As a result, we are out of balance. Look around you. Our lawns are better manicured than our lives. We have nearly every material resource this world can offer. Yet we are unhappy and unfulfilled. We have no peace.

We are worshiping gods that are not gods. We are ignoring the one true God – our Creator, our Father.

Turn to the One who can truly help you. Seek Him. Talk to Him. It’s not at all difficult – He hears each word, each murmur of your heart. Discover your Creator. He is the security, the significance, the fulfillment that you crave.

My God, I want to know You. I want to obey You. I’m sorry for all my wrongness. Forgive me and fill my life as I believe in You now.

Father,
when I begin to realize who You are,
Your lavish gifts are not enough.
I want to know You and
please You and
worship You.
I want to love You and
walk with You and
trust You every moment.
I want to live
in You and
for You and
to You alone.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Come
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

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