Christ-Like

Christ-Like Oered by Doug Blair of Waterloo ON, 2020

painting by James Tissot

Is it a thing of much study?

This walking the way our Lord trod Prepared for the moments of blessing And hearing the whispers of God? I open the Book oh so often And cram the head tighter with facts And memorize portions of richness From Gospels and Psalter and Acts.

But oh how it slips to the background And oh how the stamina fails While Jesus seemed never to waver Or fail to hear beggarly wails.

His praying so often in secret Those nights when the others would sleep Now there’s where the energy came from And there’s the communion so deep.

The will of His Father familiar The heart of a Healer sublime.

It was not in facts or in formulas.

But just Triune Love every time.

And He prayed the doors would all open For us to soak richly in this Resulting in servants transfigured And thriving in Heavenly bliss.

Be Tenacious on January 03, 2010

Holding Christ Fast Robert Murray M'Cheyne

It was a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. – SONG OF SOLOMON 3:4.

HAVE YOU found Him whom your soul loves? Have you this day seen His beauty, heard His voice, believed the record concerning Him, sat under His shadow, found fellowship with Him? Then hold Him, and do not let Him go.

I. Motives.

1. Because peace is to be found in Him.– Justified by faith, we have peace with God – not peace with ourselves, not peace with the world, with sin, with Satan, but peace with God. True divine peace is to be found only in believing, only in keeping fast hold of Christ. If you let Him go, you let go your righteousness; for this is His name. You are then without righteousness, without a covering from the wrath of God, without a way to the Father. The law will again condemn you; God’s frown will again overshadow you; you will again have terrors of conscience. Hold Him then, and do not let Him go. Whatever you let go, let not Christ go; for He is our peace, not in knowledge, not in feeling, but trust in Him alone.

2. Holiness flows from Him.-No true holiness in this world, but it springs from Him. A living Christ is the spring of holiness to all His members. As long as we hold Him, and do not let Him go, our holiness is secure. He is engaged to keep us from falling. He loves us too well to let us fall under the reigning power of sin. His word is engaged: “I will put my Spirit within you.” His honor would be tarnished if any that cleave to Him were suffered to live in sin.

If you let Him go, you will fall into sin. You have no strength, no

store of grace, no power to resist a thousand enemies, no promises. If Christ be for you, who can be against you? But if you let go His arms, where are you?

3. Hope of glory is in Him.– We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. If you have found Jesus this day, you have found a way into glory. A few steps more, you can say, and I shall be forever with the Lord. I shall be free from pain and sorrow, free from sin and weakness, free from enemies. As long as you hold Christ, you can see your way to the judgment seat. “Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel, and receive me to thy glory.” This gives you such joy, such transporting desires after the heavenly world! But let Christ go, and this will be gone. Let Christ go, and how can you die? The grave is covered with clouds of threatening. Let Him go, and how can you go to the judgment-where can you appear?

Isaiah 64 on December 16, 2019

I am looking for the one

A yielded one, you see

Who stirs himself up night and day

To take a hold of me.

The Temple now in disrepair

The City marred with sin.

And none who flee iniquity.

The mud they wallow in.

And so I’ve hid my face a while

That some might mourn and cry

“Where gone our God

We feel His rod

We search a brazen sky.”

I do not bring Grace cheaply

I break before I bless.

Right now I seek

A Watchman meek

Travailing o’er this mess.

And when I hear his yearnings

A grieving climate comes

To cause to weep

Declension deep

Throughout the streets and homes.

And this will be the purging

And this will be the spark

I will come down

And sweep this Town

And brighten what was dark.

CHURCHES CHALLENGED COME APART CONTEND FOR THE FAITH PRAYER SPIRITUAL WARFARE

One Sleepless Night JANUARY 10, 2020 / ISSUUDOTCOMSLASHDEWANE / EDIT

One Sleepless Night

One sleepless night Of anguished prayer, I triumphed over sin.

One battle in The Holy War God’s promised me to win.

Kirk had felt those words like a knife. The singles group had all been so excited anticipating this Keith Green concert. Several vans full of happy friends converging on the Fox Theatre from Port Huron. The big city had always been full of adventure, but also danger, fueled by an inconsistent auto economy and racial tension.

But on this night all was forgotten as several colours merged inside the glittering building with laughter and smiles. The corporate singing had been robust, and then the mop-haired prophet took the piano for a two and a half hour’s journey into the Spirit of Christ.

Kirk had always known Church. His Dad an elder and lay speaker at an Assembly of God fellowship. His Mom a member of the choir. The usual progression. Sunday School. Catechism. First Communion. Water baptism. Member of the young usher’s group.

He remembers often being dragged reluctantly to service when his body, stressed by studies and vigorous junior college football, had simply craved more sleep.

But now the artful psalmist up front was singing of a “sleepless night of anguished prayer”. “My fight is with the one who lost the keys of hell and death to God’s most precious Son.” Repentance obviously the issue. Kirk could not remember a day or a season when he had been agitated or grieved over sin. When the Cross had screamed out to him for allegiance and change.

Hadn’t he done all the right things? Spoken the right words?

Observed all the seasons? Followed suit with the rest? And now the host preacher was saying something about folk coming forward, joining in prayer, doing real business with God… He found himself in the centre aisle with others. This seemed a moment of holy hush as numbers moved toward the front. It seemed to Kirk as if something inside were saying yes you know that this is right, needful, urged of God. Repentance but without any fear or awkwardness. Born again.