Archive for November 2019

Trust Your Father

Have you ever listened to children when they’re on an outing? It doesn’t matter what magnificent sights they could be seeing. Their requests are, “I’m thirsty…,” “Do we have to…?” “I’m tired…,” “I wish we could…” They react out of temporary desires. They speak out of pain, fatigue, or false expectations. They don’t know what’s best for them. They can’t see the whole picture.

I think about our Heavenly Father listening to our desires and requests. He’s listened for thousands of years. He knows that what we want often has nothing to do with our happiness. We react out of pain or fatigue or false expectations. We don’t know what’s best. We can’t see the whole picture.

No wonder God sometimes seems to ignore our fervent requests and desires.

Think of it this way:

If you’re married, you know what it takes for two very-different people to live happily together.

So imagine what is necessary for beings like us – who are focused on the moment and on our own comfort – to have a long-term relationship with a Being like God, who sees all of time at once and is all-wise and all-loving.

For such a relationship to endure the hard times, we must keep trusting Him. We must keep our hands in His and stay committed to Him, no matter what. For it’s inevitable that much of the time, we won’t understand where He is leading or how He is working.

We are His children. We can’t see the whole picture. We don’t know what’s best. We must keep trusting our Father’s love.

Sometimes faith leads us to
patiently stand back and let
God do what
only He can do.

Hymn: When I Am Afraid
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Make All Things New

Some of the most moving passages
in all of scripture are in
Isaiah’s prophecies of the new creation.
This hymn attempts to gather that
beautiful panorama into a hymn,
set to a familiar tune.
For Advent or anytime.

Recording
Printed Music

Lord God, life’s only source,
Evil will run its course,
Leave earth a waste.
Love will make all things new.
Worlds will flow fresh from You.
Beauty now pure and true
Is but a taste.

Death is a brutal lord,
Wielding its sovereign sword.
Soon death will die.
Life will arise, unbound,
Life bursting all around,
Life, love, and joy profound
In Jesus Christ.

Finish Your gift begun.
Gather us all as one.
Make all things new!
Jesus, our Lamb, our Priest,
Jesus, Yourself the feast,
Jesus, with love increased
We wait for You!

by Ken Bible, © 2019 LNWhymns.com.

ThinkSingPray

ThinkSingPray
about
Desiring God 4

Monday –      Father, Only You
Hymn: Draw My Desires to You, Lord (recording) (printed)

Tuesday –     Every Moment in You

Wednesday – I Delight to Do Your Will
Hymn: Father, Father (recording) (printed)

Thursday –    What Do You Wish?

Friday –          Hymn: O Father, Give Us Jesus Christ (recording) (printed)

Saturday –     Prayer Response to Romans 6
Hymn: Romans 6 (recording) (printed)

for more, visit
ThinkSingPray
at KenBible.com

Hope That Does Not Disappoint

We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God…And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts. (Romans 5:2, 5, NIV)

I have tasted it – that pain, that sense of loss when hopes fail. I have known disappointment.

But as false foundations give way, we are forced to dig deeper, to reassess, to refocus and refine our hope by remembering what is Rock and what is not, what will hold firm and what time will wash away.

God’s people in Old Testament times learned about such disappointment. They trusted many things: their promised homeland; their financial and military resources; the Temple, their symbol of status in God’s sight. They hoped in His blessings rather than in Him. But as all these were burned away in the fires of judgment, the hopes of the faithful were purified and refocused. Their eyes were lifted higher and higher until finally fixed on One Man–the Chosen One, the Servant of God, the Messiah–who would fulfill all God’s plans for His people and the hopes of all the ages.

I have shared their disappointment, and their sin. In times of prosperity I have gradually grown to look in other directions for security, meaning, and hope. Resting in success, a comfortable lifestyle, and familiar relationships, I have clung to God’s blessings rather than to Him. Taking gifts He intended as means to glorify Him, I have made them ends, glorifying myself. They have become convenient substitutes for depending on Him day by day.

But when one such substitute crumbles, or even wavers, I sense my vulnerability. I feel my foolishness and turn again to my Father–He who so patiently and fervently pursues my deepest affections and my trust.

Father, forgive me. Purify and refocus my hopes–not just the big ones, but the small ones that drive my daily energies. Remove the distractions and substitutes from my eyes, from my heart, until my hopes are fixed on You–You, my Everlasting God, my Patient Forgiver, my Creator, my Companion, my Sovereign Lord.

Those who hope in me will not be disappointed. (Isaiah 49:23, NIV)

Father, my Father,
save me from lukewarm self-satisfaction.
All we desire –
true riches,
true glory,
true health –
comes from You alone.
Keep me constantly coming to You.

Hymn: Only You
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Psalm 111

This hymn of praise and worship
can be sung alone or
with the hymn based on its companion Psalm,
Psalm 112.
The two hymns are set to
the same highly-singable tune.
Suitable for Thanksgiving or year round.

Recording
Printed Music

With thanks, with joy, in humble fear,
We lift Your praise that all might hear
This simple message loud and clear:
How great You are, O glorious God!

You give Yourself with pure delight.
Our hearts rejoice, our souls recite
Your works, Your ways, so rich, so right.
How good You are, O glorious God!

Lord, all You say and all You do
Are faithful, righteous, kind, and true.
When all is wrong, we trust in You,
For You are just, O glorious God!

O Sovereign Lord, as we obey,
Your wisdom guides our darkened way,
And joy glows brighter day by day.
All praise to You, O glorious God!

by Ken Bible, © 2019 LNWhymns.com.

ThinkSingPray

ThinkSingPray
about
Desiring God 3

Monday –      I Cannot Live Half-heartedly
Hymn: Help Me to Love Only You (recording) (printed)

Tuesday –     Nothing but You
Hymn: You Are Near, O Lord (recording) (printed)

Wednesday – Our Deeper Need

Thursday –    Hymn: In the Light of the Cross (recording) (printed)

Friday –          Drawing Near to God
Hymn: Spirit, Come (recording) (printed)

Saturday –     The Only Reasonable Response
Hymn: Raised from Death to Love and Living (recording) (printed)

for more, visit
ThinkSingPray
at KenBible.com

Secure

The eternal God is your refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms. (Deuteronomy 33:27, NIV)

We go our own way.
We make our own plans
for our own reasons,
pursuing our own goals.
Then we build walls,
protecting ourselves from every interference.
We are secure.
We are self-sufficient.
We can handle whatever comes.

But the unforeseen happens — it always does — and
we discover that no walls can keep out
the evil that floods this world.
No matter how strong we are,
we are vulnerable.
No matter how watchful we are,
we are insecure.
We cannot control the reality that engulfs us.

But when our false security is stripped away,
we can rediscover the security on which creation itself rests—
the security that keeps the days and seasons revolving,
untouched and unthreatened by human hatred or pride.
We can rediscover that no matter what knowledge we accumulate,
God is our only wisdom.
No matter much power we try to harness,
God is sovereign.

He is love, and we are His children.
That is the only security we will ever have and
the only security we will ever need.

Father,
salvation is always something
You do.
All I do is bow and allow
God to be God in me.

Hymn: In Your Presence, God Almighty
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Psalm 72

This triumphant hymn celebrates
the ultimate reign of
the ultimate king,
Jesus Christ.
Meaningful for Advent, Christ the King Sunday, or anytime.
Set to a familiar tune.

Recording
Printed Music

Truth and justice, grace and peace
Now reign in Christ the Son.
Endless, unimagined life
Has only just begun.
See them blooming all around –
Every blessing love has sworn.
Earth is bathed in all He is
And gloriously reborn.

All creation sings His praise.
O see the hills rejoice!
Hear the trees all clap their hands
And mountains lift their voice.
Every knee now bows to Him,
Every kingdom, every throne.
Riches, honor, wisdom, power,
And praise are all His own.

Sovereign, all-transcending God,
So quick to condescend,
All-in-all, the Lord I AM,
Our Brother, Savior, Friend!
Every joy forevermore,
Every longing we pursue,
Life and beauty, truth and love
Are always only You.

by Ken Bible, © 2018 LNWhymns.com.

ThinkSingPray

ThinkSingPray
about
Desiring God 2

Monday –      Hope Has No Ifs

Tuesday –     Hear the Voice of Love

Wednesday – Hymn: Constant Love (recording) (printed)

Thursday –    Reflection on Psalm 26
Hymn: Psalm 26 (recording) (printed)

Friday –          An Undivided Heart
Hymn: An Undivided Heart (recording) (printed)

Saturday –     The Simplicity of Love

for more, visit
ThinkSingPray
at KenBible.com

Father, as I Look Back

What is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:4, NIV)

Father, as I look back,
I realize that as I simply trust You,
You bring a consistency to my life that is
totally beyond me.

I stumble through life.
My response to You is on and off,
lukewarm,
self-centered,
easily distracted.
It is so far less than the truth demands.

But You are always with me,
always guiding,
always enabling,
always blessing.
Thank You,
merciful and patient Father!

Hymn: My Loving Father
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics