Not me

 Not me. I can do nothing without Christ. The sorrow and evil and fear that abounds in this country and around the world--there's only one answer. And I will proclaim it!
 

Not What My Hands Have Done

Words: Horatius Bonar, 1808-1889

Music: George Walter Martin, 1828-1881

Not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul;

Not what my toiling flesh has borne can make my spirit whole.

Not what I feel or do can give me peace with God;

Not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load.

Chorus

 Your voice alone, O Lord, can speak to me of grace;

Your power alone, O Son of God, can all my sin erase.

No other work but Yours, no other blood will do;

No strength but that which is divine can bear me safely through.

Thy work alone, O Christ, Can ease this weight of sin

Thy blood alone O Lamb of God, Can give me peace within.

Thy love to me O God, Not mine, O Lord, to Thee

Can rid me of This dark unrest, And set my spirit free!

Thy grace along, O God, To me can pardon speak;

Thy power alone O Son of God, Can this sore bondage break.

No other work, save Thine, No other blood will do,

No strength save that, Which is divine,

Can bear me safely through.

I bless the Christ of God; I rest on love divine;

And with unfaltering lip and heart, I call this Savior mine.

His cross dispels each doubt, I bury in His tomb

My unbelief, And all my fear, Each lingering shade of gloom.

I praise the Christ of God; I rest on love divine;

And with unfaltering lip and heart I call this Savior mine.

My Lord has saved my life and freely pardon gives;

I love because He first loved me, I live because He lives.

Your voice alone, O Lord, can speak to me of grace;

Your power alone, O Lord, does all my sin erase.

No other work, but Yours no other blood will do!

No other strength but Your great power can bear me safely through.

Do You Have a Name?

"What I believe about God is the most important thing about me."

A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)

One of my dreams was to find a fawn laying down in the woods. It wasw a thrill when I did!

 

I'm reading "Full Disclosure" by Dee Handerson, a mystery novel. I just started reading her in the past few years because I didn't think I'd enjoy mystery stories. But I find I do. How people can write 300+ page stories, intense and full of life, is beyond me.

I love to write, but my imagination is severely limited. I admire those who can write stories. Dee Henderson is one of them. This story I've read at least twice so far. If a book is good, it's worth reading again.

Just today I was stopped to ponder one of her narratives. I can't remember it causing me to pause before, but I was stopped to consider what was said. 

The person talking in this story is a woman who is a writer and has conversations in her mind all the time. She spends weeks in a story searching to find the right name for characters. And this process led her to a name she calls God when she talks to Him. She asked the Holy Spirit for a name she could use personally when she talks with God. The name she heard whispered was Lovely.

At first she thought "Lovely" sounded feminine, but as she started sharing her life with Him, thanking Him for a lovely sunset He painted or asking for help in a situation, she fell more in love with Him.

There are certainly many religious names for God. I have no problem calling Him Father when I talk with Him. Many people call Him, Yahweh (I am who I am); Adonai (Lord); El Shaddai (God Almighty); Abba (Father/Daddy); Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide), and the list goes on and on.

A little one exploring with Mom.

 

Do you have a name for God, personal to you, that you call Him in your conversations with Him? I don't, but I'm going to ponder this thought for awhile and ask if there is a name, just for me, that I can address Him with when we talk.

A name to bring Him closer to me, sharing my life with Him as we talk through the day; getting to know Him better. I like that. What about you?

"I have a great need for Christ; I have a great Christ for my need."

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) 

I like this snap because it's so peaceful. I was driving through the forest on a dirt road just listening and looking to see what I could find, and this doe was relaxing in the cool of a June morning.

Hope Secure

"The Lord has promised good to me, His Word my hope secure;

He will my shield and portion be As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail, and mortal life shall cease,

I shall possess within the veil, A life of joy and peace."

  Do those words sound familiar to you? They didn't to me. They come from the amazing hymn "Amazing Grace," the 4th and 5th verse to be exact.

Most of us know four verses of this hymn for it is sung often and greatly enjoyed. But sometimes it is interesting to know there are other verses in the original text, such as these two, by John Newton, and others in their hymn writing.

"The veil, of all the elements in the wilderness tabernacle, was the clearest message of God's love for the human race, but it would be more than 1,000 years before that message would be delivered," Jack Zavada wrote.

"When Jesus died on the cross, God tore the veil in the Jerusalem temple from top to bottom. No one but God could have done such a thing because that veil was 60 feet tall and four inches thick. The direction of the tear meant God destroyed the barrier between himself and humanity, an act only God had the ability to do.

 "Every follower of Christ can now approach God directly, without the intervention of earthly priests. Christ, the great High Priest, intercedes for us before God."

 It is always interesting to me when I find a little gold nugget such as this as I read about different hymns and who wrote them.

I've always liked this quote from Billy Graham:

 "I can tell you that God is alive because I talked with him this morning."

 Did you?