Tag Archives: the peace of God

For the Lord’s Day – Oh Love, That Will Not Let Me Go

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1 O love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
that in thine ocean depths its flow
may richer, fuller be.

2 O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
my heart restores its borrowed ray,
that in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
may brighter, fairer be.

3 O joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
and feel the promise is not vain
that morn shall tearless be.

4 O cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
and from the ground there blossoms red
life that shall endless be.

Lyrics: George Matheson 1842-1906

Music: Albert L. Peace

“Stabilizing lines, especially for those in darkness.

Do you know the story behind it?

At age 20 George Matheson (1842-1906) was engaged to be married but began going blind. When he broke the news to his fiancee, she decided she could not go through life with a blind husband. She left him. Before losing his sight he had written two books of theology and some feel that if he had retained his sight he could have been the greatest leader of the church of Scotland in his day.

A special providence was that George’s sister offered to care for him. With her help, George left the world of academia for pastoral ministry and wound up preaching to 1500 each week–blind.

The day came, however, in 1882, when his sister fell in love and prepared for marriage herself. The evening before the wedding, George’s whole family had left to get ready for the next day’s celebration. He was alone and facing the prospect of living the rest of his life without the one person who had come through for him. On top of this, he was doubtless reflecting on his own aborted wedding day twenty years earlier. It is not hard to imagine the fresh waves of grief washing over him that night.

In the darkness of that moment George Matheson wrote this hymn. He remarked afterward that it took him five minutes and that it was the only hymn he ever wrote that required no editing.

O love that will not let me go. Heartening hope for you and me.”

by Dane Ortlund

Romans 8:38-39

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

sage

For the Lord’s Day – Wonderful Peace

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Due to the stressfulness of this past week, the Lord put it on my heart to choose this hymn, and post it this evening instead of waiting for tomorrow morning.  Please let this wonderful hymn be a balm to your spirit.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=vgfgVA15528%3Fsi%3DOk8a3CFDn4h4A_XY

Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight
Rolls a melody sweeter than psalm;
In celestial strains it unceasingly falls
O’er my soul like an infinite calm.

Refrain

Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above!
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray
In fathomless billows of love!

What a treasure I have in this wonderful peace,
Buried deep in the heart of my soul,
So secure that no power can mine it away,
While the years of eternity roll!

Refrain

I am resting tonight in this wonderful peace,
Resting sweetly in Jesus’ control;
For I’m kept from all danger by night and by day,
And His glory is flooding my soul!

Refrain

And I think when I rise to that city of peace,
Where the Anchor of peace I shall see,
That one strain of the song which the ransomed will sing
In that heavenly kingdom will be:

Refrain

Ah, soul! are you here without comfort and rest,
Marching down the rough pathway of time?
Make Jesus your Friend ere the shadows grow dark;
O accept of this peace so sublime!

Refrain

Lyrics – Warren D. Cornell – Alas – no picture is available of brother Warren Cornell.

Born: Ap­ril 25, 1858, White­ford, Mi­chi­gan.

Died: Feb­ru­a­ry 4, 1901, Fond du Lac, Wis­con­sin.

 Cornell & Cooper wrote this song at a camp meeting near West Bend, Wisconsin:

One day while seated in the tent, Mr. Cornell, following a period of deep introspection, wrote down the thoughts with which his mind had been busied. They later proved to be parts of this hymn, Wonderful Peace. Sinking again into introspective rumination, he arose, unwittingly dropped the written verses on the tent floor and went out. When Mr. Cooper entered the tent an hour or two later he discovered the paper. He was fascinated by the theme and the accompanying verses. It so fitted his own thinking that he filled in and completed the poem. Then sitting down at the organ he composed the melody as it has since been sung.

Sanville, p. 58

Music – William Gustin Cooper

Born: July 15, 1861, Evansville, Wisconsin.

Died: October 17, 1938, Canton, Maine.

Buried: Silverbrook Cemetery, Wilmington, Delaware.

Cooper was living in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (1870); Buchanan, Michigan (1880); and Hortonville Village, Wisconsin (1900). He pastored at the Hortonville Community Baptist Church from September 1, 1897 to April 1, 1901. In May 1922, he became pastor of the Baptist church in Ira, Vermont. His works include:

  • History of the Baptist Church of Ira, Vermont, with Simon Lewis Peck (Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle Company, 1925)
  • Sacred Songs (Canton,  Maine: The Pinewood Press, 1936)

A Biblical understanding of peace begins with the Hebrew expression שָׁלוֹם (shalom), a word as rich in meaning as it is lovely in sound. In English we generally think of “peace” in terms of what it is not–as an absence of conflict, or confusion, or struggle. But shalom is defined positively, as the presence of certain qualities, such as “completeness,” “soundness,” and “wellness” (Brown, 1022). In this sense it was (and still is) used in Hebrew as an all-purpose greeting and farewell (Jewish Encyclopedia). With this in view, it becomes apparent that even when shalom is used in our sense of “peace”–the opposite of war–it is more a state of mind than of situation. One might have shalom even in the midst of all sorts of external stresses and conflicts; it is not dependent on the actions of others.

http://drhamrick.blogspot.com/2013/10/far-away-in-depths-wonderful-peace.html

2 Thessalonians 3:16

 Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.

For the Lord’s Day – Precious Lord, Take My Hand

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=PXDhJWGBYaY%3Fsi%3DpVkU7ybllUxJG-LA

Precious Lord, take my hand,
Lead me on, let me stand,
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn;
Through the storm, through the night,
Lead me on to the light:

Refrain

Take my hand, precious Lord,
Lead me home.

When my way grows drear,
Precious Lord, linger near,
When my life is almost gone,
Hear my cry, hear my call,
Hold my hand lest I fall:

Refrain

When the darkness appears
And the night draws near,
And the day is past and gone,
At the river I stand,
Guide my feet, hold my hand:

Refrain

Words: Thomas A. Dorsey, 1932. Dorsey wrote this song in Chicago, Illinois, after his wife Nettie died while giving birth to a child (who also died shortly thereafter). Dorsey sang the song for his friend, Gospel singer Theodore Frye, and Frye’s choir sang it the next Sunday at the Ebenezer Baptist Church.

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/p/l/t/pltmhand.htm

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

Attributes of the Holy Spirit – #2 – His Emblems

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Emblems are used to express the fulness of a concept where words are insufficient.  Words will sometimes only reveal a half truth, and the bible uses emblems to fully illustrate the Holy spirit, far more than volumes could contain. . .

  • FIRE IS AN EMBLEM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – Acts 2:3 – And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
  • WIND IS AN EMBLEM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – John 3:8 – The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
  • WATER IS AN EMBLEM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – John 7: 37-39 -In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
  • SEAL IS AN EMBLEM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – Ephesians 1:13 – In Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in Whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.
  • OIL IS AN EMBLEM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – Acts 10:38 – How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him. 
  • DOVE IS AN EMBLEM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – Mark 1:10 – And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him.
Fire speaks of the consuming, purifying power of the Holy Spirit in the believers life.
Wind speaks of the hidden depths of the Holy Spirit’s regenerating power for all who will believe. 
Water speaks of the overflowing life from the Holy Spirit, into the core of the believer’s existence. 
Seal speaks of His ownership of the believer, through a finished and eternal transaction.
Oil speaks of the power of the Holy Spirit through anointing the believer for service worthy of God.
Dove speaks of the Holy Spirit’s peaceful and gentle nature.  
holy-spirit-6

We may all  know the “peace of God which passeth all understanding,” only when we fully surrender to God.

Philippians 4:7

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.