Archive for June 2021

One

2021-06-30 Hymns No comments

This hymn is based on
John 17:10,
where Jesus tells His Father,
“All I have is Yours, and
all You have is Mine.”
Jesus shares that beautiful oneness with us.

Recording
Printed Music

All I am is Yours.
All I have is Yours.
Heart and body, mind and strength,
All I am is Yours.
All I have is Yours.

All You are is mine.
All You have is mine.
All Your fullness, glorious God,
All You are is mine.
All You have is mine.

Living all in You,
Ever all in You,
What a wonder! What a gift –
Living all in You,
Ever all in You!

by Ken Bible, © 2020 LNWhymns.com.

Revelation, Chapters 4-9

2021-06-28 Fresh Views of Timeless Truths No comments

Fresh Views of Timeless Truths

For the next two weeks, reflect on Revelation, Chapters 4-9. The rest of Revelation comes in four other installments. This rich book doesn’t need to remain a closed mystery for you. This free pdf consists of scripture, prayers, reflections, and 13 new hymns for public and personal worship.

It is part of the new series, Fresh Views of Timeless Truth, focused reflections on key topics.

LINKS:
Free pdf of Revelation, Chapters 4-9
Complete list of available volumes in Fresh Views of Timeless Truths

Sharing His Life

2021-06-25 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples,
Even the veil which is stretched over all nations.
He will swallow up death for all time.
(Isaiah 25:7-8, NASB)

My wife and I have enjoyed browsing through antique shops. I got hooked on them years ago when I collected old books. So when she and I got the chance to spend a weekend away together, we decided to tour the small towns nearby and visit their shops.

The weekend was wrapping up, and we were in Gower, Missouri. In a small store there I came across a funeral card for a man who had died in 1887. Reading the card, I couldn’t help thinking about that man. He brought to mind the countless individuals around the world who have come and gone, seemingly unknown and unremembered. So many people. So many generations. We are like flowers. We bloom and proudly spread our petals toward the sun, only to die as quickly as we came, leaving little sign of our coming or our going. What difference does our living make? What does it matter that I, or any of us, were ever here?

We are surrounded by a stream of death that flows unceasingly through our world, engulfing all life, threatening to wash away all concept of meaning and significance. For me, antique shops quietly testify to that. They are graveyards for our treasures. When we’re gone, the things we counted precious are left behind to sell for pennies or to gather dust. They sit there on the shelf, mocking the foolishness and futility of our lives – lives hungrily invested in what is doomed to quickly pass.

As I stood there and saw myself as part of that stream of death, I was reminded that there is more.

I am not just a physical body that is dying even now. The life in me is the life of my Creator. He has shared it with me, and His life is unending. He is not a God of death and darkness, but of life and light. His life will not die with this body, and this world is not His final arena of existence or meaning.

What is more, I can know Him. I can know Him personally and live in a relationship with Him. I can please Him and talk to Him. I can learn of Him and grow in Him. I can fulfill the purpose for which I, and all this, was created.

That’s what I want above anything else. I want to become the person He designed me to be.

When redemption is complete and
God’s final judgments are pronounced,
death itself will be destroyed forever.
It will disappear from all creation, and
life will reign and abound everywhere—
life unchained,
deep and profound,
as rich and magnificent as God intended.

Hymn: Ash Wednesday Hymn

Psalm 146

2021-06-23 Hymns No comments

“Psalm 146” expresses both the
depth and
warm-hearted simplicity of
worshiping our glorious God.
Set to a fresh but familiar hymn tune.

Recording
Printed Music

God, my Source, my Father,
Praise, all praise to You,
Praise from all my being,
Praise through all I do,
Praise through all I do.

Human plans are nothing,
Empty as a breath,
Full of proud presumption,
Sure to end in death,
Sure to end in death.

You are all, forever,
Good and just and true.
Mighty God unchanging,
I will trust in You,
I will trust in You.

Health and joy and freedom,
Heaven’s rich reward,
Life’s complete fulfillment –
All in You, my Lord,
All in You, my Lord!

by Ken Bible, © 2020 LNWhymns.com.

Ashes to Ashes

2021-06-18 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16, NIV)

We’re all engaged in a battle to keep our bodies healthy and attractive. It’s a worthy effort.

But it’s a battle we will lose. Our bodies will decay and die. It’s happening right now.

On the other hand, that inner core of your life, that relationship with God, that inner life you share with Him, can grow more and more healthy as time goes by, no matter what happens to your body. That’s where your future lies. That’s where you should invest your effort.

Jesus, I look forward to ever-increasing health in You.

All the care we lavish on our bodies does only
a little good
for a very short time.
Nourishing our relationship with God is
infinitely fruitful
today and forever.

Hymn: Ashes to Ashes

Father, You See Our Need

2021-06-16 Hymns No comments

Here is a prayer for
all who feel their deep need for
the living Christ.

Recording
Printed Music

Father, You see our need,
Know our helpless poverty.
You see Your children
So weak apart from You.

Refrain:
Breathe the breath of Christ.
Plant the mind of Christ.
Grow the life and love of Him
Who shares your very heart.
Pour the peace of Christ.
Shine the light of Christ.
Share the holy heart of Christ,
Our Way, Our Truth, Our Life.

Father, remove from me
All the hurtful things You see,
Needless distractions
That draw my heart from You.

by Ken Bible, © 2009 LNWhymns.com.

Revelation, Chapters 1-3

2021-06-14 Fresh Views of Timeless Truths No comments

Fresh Views of Timeless Truths

For the next two weeks, reflect on Revelation, Chapters 1-3. The rest of Revelation will follow in four more installments. This rich book doesn’t need to remain a closed mystery for you. This free pdf consists of scripture, prayers, reflections, and 15 new hymns for public and personal worship.

It is part of the new series, Fresh Views of Timeless Truth, focused reflections on key topics.

LINKS:
Free pdf of Revelation, Chapters 1-3
Complete list of available volumes in Fresh Views of Timeless Truths

The Inevitable Reality

2021-06-11 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:20, NIV).

To most people, even Christians, too much talk of heaven is not intellectually respectable.

We squirm when Jesus talks so often about trying to gain rewards in heaven. That isn’t much of a motive for doing good, is it?

But Jesus had seen heaven, as well as earth. He had a unique perspective on the shortness of life here. The heaven that we feel is so far away is upon us even now.

Jesus pointed to heaven as the ultimate and inevitable reality. He urges us in the strongest terms to be wise – to live our brief lives with that reality in full view.

Jesus emphasized the coming judgment
over and over,
in the strongest terms.
He had seen life from both earth and eternity, and
He urged us to live with eternity in view.
Look all around you: we are
temporary creatures living in a
temporary world.
All we see and touch is
quickly passing.

Hymn: Captives of Eternal Love

Psalm 15

2021-06-09 Hymns, Uncategorized No comments

This ancient Psalm is about
holiness.
Who can stand in His holy presence?
Set to a familiar tune.

Recording
Printed Music

O Holy God, the Lord Most High,
Your greatness fills all time and space.
Who dares approach Your awe-full throne
Or stand before You face-to-face?

The one who talks and walks Your truth,
Whose words and deeds are like Your own,
Who freely gives as You would give
And lives each day to You alone.

But none are pure or right or good
But You Yourself, O Holy One.
Come bow and breathe Your greatest gift:
The Spirit of Your Holy Son.

In Him, our Lord, we simply share
The goodness only You can be,
A holiness that’s rich and real,
That all the world can feel and see.

by Ken Bible, © 2020 LNWhymns.com.

Children: God’s Living Promise

2021-06-04 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

Children are a gift of the Lord. (Psalm 127:3, NASB)

Why does our loving God continue to send helpless infants into this horrific world? They arrive totally dependent, entering every conceivable circumstance, including the most cruel and inhumane. There they are too often neglected and brutally victimized by the darkest human evil.

Why does God continue to send us children?

Remember God’s promise to Noah. Faced with the relentless evil of the human race, God gave us a new start through Noah and his family. Then He promised all life on earth that no matter how awful evil became, death would not win. Life would win. Then He gave the rainbow as His beautiful reminder of that promise.

Children are God’s living rainbow. They are His gift of life, of future, of hope. They are His beautiful, tender, tangible assurance that, in the face of all that evil can do, LIFE WILL WIN.

Evil seems powerful and pervasive.
But its time is strictly limited.
It is a beast that
charges in and rages
but is doomed to die.

Hymn: Snowflakes

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