Tag Archive for Alabaster

from Prepare Yourself for Worship

2017-04-07 Devotional with Hymn, Prepare Yourself for Worship No comments

Prepare for Holy Week

Father, prepare my heart and mind for Holy Week.

Help me to
cheer,
rejoice, and
sing praise
as Jesus comes to us triumphantly in the face of death,
proclaiming Himself our Messiah!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!

Help me share His burning zeal for His Father’s house.
And may He cleanse my heart as well whenever I allow
life’s busy-ness to crowd out prayer.

Open my ears and my heart, Lord,
as Jesus urges us to
pray boldly and
patiently endure the persecution that will surely come.

Infuse my life with the fragrance of love
as a woman models how to
lavishly worship Jesus,
with no thought of self,
holding nothing back.

Humble me and
challenge my concept of ministry
as our Master takes on Himself
the lowest,
most menial,
most irksome service to His disciples.

Then, Father, help me watch with new eyes
as Your only Son
sweats blood in the garden,
silently endures brutal injustice, and
dies willingly under indescribable torture.
Impress Your love in a fresh way on
my mind and
my heart.
Make me ready once again to
receive it and to
pour it out on others.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: As You Love
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Only to Your Glory

2016-02-28 Devotional with Hymn, One with Our Father No comments

from the book, ONE WITH OUR FATHER 

John 12:1-33

Father, pour me out as a fragrance,
completely,
irrecoverably.

Plant me as a seed,
dead to myself and my own future,
alive only to grow into Your greater purpose.
Otherwise, I remain
small,
single, and
alone.

From me and my dying
gain fruit,
gain glory for Yourself.
O Father, this world so needs to see Your glory!
We need to see the light of all You are.
We need to fully grasp
Your greatness,
Your goodness, and
Your constant, personal presence.
With Jesus, may Your glory be
my constant focus and
my deepest desire.

From this point on, help me to think of myself
only in You,
only as part of You and
all You are doing.
May thoughts of my success and my glory be
dead,
buried, and
gone forever.

With Jesus, Father,
now and forever
may I think and speak and be only
in You,
from You,
through You, and
to You.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Make My Life a Holy Fragrance
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

The Anointing

2013-03-03 Devotional with Hymn No comments

John 12:1-8

Nard was a favorite perfume of the time, extremely expensive. It was imported from India in sealed alabaster containers that were opened only on very special occasions.

Imagine taking your most precious possession–worth a year’s salary–and pouring it out in a moment of time. The treasure is expendable and irrecoverable. When it’s gone, it’s gone. Imagine the overwhelming love and gratitude that would motivate you to do this.

Think what this woman’s act must have meant to Jesus. He was about to die in excruciating pain and public humiliation, condemned by a jeering crowd. A close friend would betray Him. All His followers would abandon Him.

But now, in the face of all this, one woman poured herself out to Him in a single act of lavish, unselfish love. How moved and refreshed He must have been!

The critics were insensitive to what had happened. They didn’t see love, though they masked their response in concern for the poor. They saw only materialism.

Money and material goods are not at the center of life. They are not at the center of the church. Love is at the very heart of God. God is love. He calls us to be love as well.

Jesus, You have done more for me than I can ever express or repay. Help me to be more lavish and less calculating, less selfish in my love for You.

Listen…and sing if you want:
I Love You, Jesus, Savior, Lord
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics