"Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest" Jn 4:35

There was great rejoicing among the Saints today as we celebrated the new birth of four friends. 

Each person has a unique story and each is very different from the other but one common thing is found to be true among them all, their refrain will no longer be "my glory and honor" but will forevermore be, "All glory and praise to the One whom my soul loves best, Jesus!"  

Today Thy mercy calls me,

To wash away my sin;

However great my trespass, 

Whatever I may have been,

However long from mercy 

I may have turned away

Thy blood, O Christ, can cleanse me, 

And make me white today.

Today Thy gate is open,

And all who enter in,

Shall find a Father's welcome, 

And pardon for their sin;

The past shall be forgotten,

A present joy be given,

A future grace be promised--

A glorious crown in heaven.

O all embracing mercy.

Thou ever open door,

What should I do without Thee,

When heart and eyes run o'er?

When all things seem against me,

To drive me to despair,

I know one gate is open,

One ear will hear my prayer.

                            ~Oswald Allen

He Owns Me for His child

April 4

April 4, 2013 • By Charles H. Spurgeon; revised and edited by William C. Neff (c)2003-2005

"[God] made [Jesus], who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."-- 2 Corinthians 5:21

Dear mourning Christian! Why are you crying? Are you sorrowful over your own corruption? If so, then look to your perfect Lord, and remember that you are complete in Him. You are in God's sight as perfect as if you had never sinned— in fact, even better than that! The Lord our righteousness has put a divine garment upon you, so that you wear the very righteousness of God.
If you are mourning because of your continued sinfulness, remember that none of your sins can condemn you. You have learned to hate sin, but you have not learned that your sin is no longer yours-- it was laid upon Christ's head. Your acceptance in God’s presence is not based in yourself, but in your Lord; you are as much accepted by God today with all your sinfulness as you will be when you stand before His throne free from all corruption.
I beg you today to lay hold on this precious thought— that you are perfect and complete in Christ! With your Savior’s garment on you are as holy as the Holy one. Who can possibly condemn you? Christ died and was raised for you, and he is now at God’s right hand interceding for you.
So, Christian, rejoice! You are "accepted in the Christ who loves you." What do you have to fear? Smile! Live near your Master today, and know that when your time has come you will rise up where your Jesus sits now, and you will reign at His right hand.  All of this is true because the divine Lord "was made to be sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." ~Morningandevening.org

Arise, my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears:
Before the throne my surety stands,
Before the throne my surety stands,
My name is written on His hands.

He ever lives above, for me to intercede;
His all redeeming love, His precious blood, to plead:
His blood atoned for all our race,
His blood atoned for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Five bleeding wounds He bears; received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me:
"Forgive him, O forgive," they cry,
"Forgive him, O forgive," they cry,
"Nor let that ransomed sinner die!"

The Father hears Him pray, His dear anointed One;
He cannot turn away, the presence of His Son;
His Spirit answers to the blood,
His Spirit answers to the blood,
And tells me I am born of God.

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear:
With confidence I now draw nigh,
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And "Father, Abba, Father," cry.

~Charles Wesley

My Song is Love Unknown by Samuel Crossman

My song is love unknown,
My Savior’s love to me;
Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
O who am I, that for my sake
My Lord should take, frail flesh and die?

He came from His blest throne
Salvation to bestow;
But men made strange, and none
The longed for Christ would know:
But O! my Friend, my Friend indeed,
Who at my need His life did spend.

Sometimes they strew His way,
And His sweet praises sing;
Resounding all the day
Hosannas to their King:
Then “Crucify!” is all their breath,
And for His death they thirst and cry.

Why, what hath my Lord done?
What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run,
He gave the blind their sight,
Sweet injuries! Yet they at these
Themselves displease, and ’gainst Him rise.

They rise and needs will have
My dear Lord made away;
A murderer they saved,
The Prince of life they slay,
Yet cheerful He to suffering goes,
That He His foes from thence might free.

In life, no house, no home
My Lord on earth might have;
In death no friendly tomb
But what a stranger gave.
What may I say? Heav’n was His home;
But mine the tomb wherein He lay.

Here might I stay and sing,
No story so divine;
Never was love, dear King!
Never was grief like Thine.
This is my Friend, in Whose sweet praise
I all my days could gladly spend.

Persist To The End

'Your work and your life must go off the stage together. Persisting to the end will be the burr in your saddle- the thorn in your flesh- when the road ahead seems endless and your soul begs an early discharge. It weighs down every other difficulty of your calling. We have known many who have joined the army of Christ and liked being a soldier for a battle or two, but have soon had enough and ended up deserting. They impulsively enlist for Christian duties, are easily persuaded to take up a profession of religion, and are just as easily persuaded to lay it down. Like the new moon, they shine a little in the first part of the evening, but go down before the night is over.

This persevering is a hard word! Taking up the cross daily, praying always, watching night and day and never laying aside our armour to indulge ourselves, sends many sorrowful away from Christ. Yet this is your calling: to make the Christian faith your daily work, without any vacation from one end of the year to the other.'
~ William Gurnall

HT: Liyah McDonnell

Life

As I was sitting in the cemetery  I thought about the brevity of life. As I walked around looking at the tombstones   it occurred to me that these were people just like me. They had a life, a family, friends, things that they enjoyed doing, and things that they despised.  They laughed and they cried.  They loved people and, at times, were hurt by those very same people. They each had their own story; their own quirks.  They lived a life that was unique, but now they are gone.  There is nothing left to show that they were here, except for a cold lifeless stone stating the facts: name, birth, death.  Even those things may not be seen on the tombstones.  Some of the names are hard to read because they have been worn away with the years and changing of the season. Some of the tombstones have fallen or can not be found because they are buried under the dirt now. Some of these graves, I am sad to say, have had moles and other creatures digging through them, but this is reality! We are born, we live, we die.  This is all there is to this, right? Wrong!  That can not be it, that can't be the only reason we live.  If all there is to this world is to live and die, to be forgotten then what is the point of living in the first place?  Though these people are dead in physically their soul is still alive.  I sat looking at the tombstones and I wondered how many knew their Father in life and therefore are with Him now.  I wonder how many had a stiff neck and refused to come to Christ in life and as a consequence are paying for their own sins in eternal destruction.  Who were the religious ones, who put faith in their own works? Who were the ones who did not seek but were found? Who were the ones that walked many years with God or the ones who found Him as the thief on the cross did, in the last moments? Are they among the forgotten? Their Father has not forgotten them even if man has.  God had a purpose for them and knew what their life and death would bring in the end.  Praise Him! Though I may be forgotten by man, my accomplishments along with my failures, God won't forget me.  He will remember the things I have accomplished through Christ in this life and because of Christ my failures (sins) have been paid for already.  I stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Christ in life as well as death!