Tag Archive for The Upward Call

I Press Ahead toward Christ

2021-01-01 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14, NASB)

Success and failure are just words,
spoken from our small-minded ignorance.
Money and respect are simply mediums of human exchange.
They can only give what other humans have to give,
creatures who share our own deep neediness.
Glory and gold are too shallow to provide
what we truly need and crave.
Physical comfort is an imposter,
pretending to be lasting peace.
In the end, death shows them all for what they are:
empty delusions.

Jesus Christ is the eternal, holy, glorious God
made fully human.
In Him, my Father, I can
know You and
love You and
become like You.
In Him all my goals,
all my expectations,
all life’s possibilities are raised and reset.
In Him I am becoming more than I ever dreamed I could be.
Jesus Christ is my desire.
I trust HIM.
I press ahead toward HIM.

For in Him, Father,
I become one with You
completely and forever,
in all Your holiness and love.

The prize held out before us is
not material blessings—
not in this world and
not in the next.
The prize God offers is
Himself,
with all the
life and
love
that are in Him.

Hymn: The Upward Call

An Adventure of Faith

2020-01-31 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. (Psalm 25:10, NIV)

God, You are God.
Your ways are always loving.
Your ways are always wise.
The way You lead me is always the best way.

So, Lord, help me to trust You boldly and gladly.
I will not shrink from tasks to which You have called me.
I will accept them as an adventure of faith,
as a chance to discover more about You,
to experience
Your guiding,
Your power,
Your blessing and providing;
as a chance to glorify You.

Lord, I accept this challenge
as an adventure of faith.

Father, it frightens us
when You send us out with
no support and no resource
but Your promise.
But those experiences bind us to You
and prove that
You are who You say You are and
will do all You say You will do.

Hymn: The Upward Call

Go Beyond

2019-10-11 Devotional with Hymn, Magnificent God No comments

[Your creatures] all wait for You
To give them their food in due season.
You give to them, they gather it up;
You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good.
You hide Your face, they are dismayed;
You take away their spirit, they expire
And return to their dust.
You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the ground.
(Psalm 104:27-30, NASB)

Go beyond thinking of God
as merely a means to an end,
as a way to obtain more loving relationships or
inner peace or
even everlasting life.

He Himself is the end of all things.
He is our greatest blessing,
our glorious reward,
our eternal destiny.

Love,
inner peace, and
everlasting life
are merely partial descriptions of
all that He is.

Hymn: The Upward Call
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

I Press Ahead toward Christ

2017-04-17 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Success and failure are just words,
spoken from our small-minded ignorance.
Money and respect are simply mediums of human exchange.
They can only give what other humans have to give,
creatures who share our own deep neediness.
Glory and gold are too shallow to provide
what we truly need and crave.
Physical comfort is an imposter,
pretending to be lasting peace.
In the end, death shows them all for what they are:
empty delusions.

Jesus Christ is the eternal, holy, glorious God
made fully human.
In Him, my Father, I can
know You and
love You and
become like You.
In Him all my goals,
all my expectations,
all life’s possibilities are raised and reset.
In Him I am becoming more than I ever dreamed I could be.
Jesus Christ is my desire.
I trust HIM.
I press ahead toward HIM.

For in Him, Father,
I become one with You
completely and forever,
in all Your holiness and love.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: The Upward Call
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

UPWARD CALL Devotional Tapestry

2017-01-11 Devotional Tapestries No comments

UPWARD CALL Devotional Tapestry

Devotional Tapestries are short recordings designed to draw your heart and mind to the Living God. Each includes a devotional reading over instrumental music, leading into a hymn.

Listen to UPWARD CALL Devotional Tapestry.

Printed hymn & devotional
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