Just A Closer Walk With You

 Last year, I had sent out another hymn by this same author,  Quietness And Confidence . This one is definitely one of the best in his book of poems/hymns. The Fulness Of Jesus Lord Jesus! when I ponder o’er Thy grace and love to me, My heart is nigh to overflow With praise and thanks to Thee. My wisdom and my righteousness, My peace, my all, Thou art; I long to know full blessedness, And yield Thee all my heart. Oh! make my heart a Bethany, A dwelling-place of Thine; For nothing else can satisfy This longing heart of mine. Thus filled with Thee, my fount of life, My ever blessed Lord, I joyously can testify The fulness of Thy word. And of the Godhead bodily, All fulness dwells in Thee; This mystery of mysteries In glory I shall see. Thy fulness is my heritage, Thou givest grace for grace; Till in a bright Eternity I see Thee face to face. What though I can but understand In part, while here below? Soon all that yet is unrevealed In fulness I shall know. And even now, the port...

  Romans 8:1 - Now No Condemnation Romans 7:19-25  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. The great dilemma of the ages: where do I receive victory in my Christian life? In my flesh I cannot please the Lord nor live the way He wants me to live. On my own, I cannot even fulfill the Law's demands. The battle the Apostle Paul describes in Romans 7 seems well-nigh hopeless, ...

 Charles Wesley was another prolific hymnwriter, and to me, this one has got to be his best hymn. And Can It Be That I Should Gain (Lyrics: Charles Wesley; Music: Thomas Campbell) 1) And can it be that I should gain An interest in the Saviour’s blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Chorus: Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? 2) ’Tis mystery all: th’Immortal dies: Who can explore His strange design? In vain the firstborn seraph tries To sound the depths of love divine. ’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore, Let angel minds inquire no more. 3) He left His Father’s throne above So free, so infinite His grace; Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam’s helpless race; ’Tis mercy all, immense and free, For O my God, it found out me! 4) Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature’s night; Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I wo...

I really do love the hymn,  Just As I Am , that tells about salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing we need to bring to Him to save us - just repentance of our sins (ie. a change of mind about our sins that we see them as wicked in His sight and we no longer desire them the way we did before - we want the Saviour instead) and faith in His shed blood and finished work upon the cross of Calvary. Unfortunately, to many in the religious world, Just As I Am becomes a creed to justify staying as we are - no change, no repentance, nothing different - but somehow still saved and Heaven bound! When we sang this song as our closing hymn in church yesterday, I was thinking about the difference true salvation does make - and that difference is eternal. The Lord God changes us, cleanses us, adopts us as His children, gives us eternal life, regenerates us and makes us new creatures in Him, and so much more. I came to the Lord just as I was - but praise the Lord, I did not stay that ...

 The following is taken from a larger study, entitled:  Numbers In The Bible Series:  Day 51 - Forgiven I was prompted to do a search for the word  forgiven  yesterday, and was blessed by the results. There are seven main passages I came across in the New Testament that deal with being forgiven - the first two showing Jesus offering forgiveness to repentant sinners who trust Him by faith, and the remaining five are wonderful promises of assurance. (There are more passages in the NT with this term, but they dealt with either not being forgiven, warnings about the need for forgiveness, or requirements for it.) 1) Matthew 9:2  And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be  forgiven  thee. This story of Jesus' miracle of healing and the forgiveness of the paralytic is told in the first three Gospels. We see that both the cripple...

Boasting In The Lord So many will boast of their status and wealth - For too many that is all that's worth living; I'd rather boast in my spiritual health - I'll rejoice that I am saved and forgiven! So many will boast in who and what they know - Their connections are the things they do treasure; I would rather boast in the Lord Jesus Christ - His Word is my only sure guide and measure! So many will boast in the things they have made - As if this life was the end of the story; But I would rather boast in the world to come - Heaven above is in what I will glory. So many will boast that they have now arrived - Trusting in themselves - a sad situation! But I'd rather boast in what Jesus has done - Singing aloud of His wondrous salvation! So many will boast of things under the Sun - Things that will one day be shaken and scattered; I will boast in my Father's, "My child, well done" -  In eternity, that's all that will matter! January 9th, 2011 Jerry Bouey ...