give thanks

prayer points!

for clarice:

weight of luggage

for edward:

thanksgiving

beautiful lyrics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xd4DXxMR3Y

the lyrics are beautifully written. really strikes me about the wonder of His love for us. somehow tho i’ve sung this song in chinese in church.. it wasn’t as impactful as reading the english lyrics.

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell
The guilty pair, bowed down with care
God gave His Son to win
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade

To write the love of God above
Would drain the oceans dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky

Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song

beautiful poem

A beautiful and reflective poem by poet Ann Weems from today’s ODB:

Some of us walk into Advent
tethered to our unresolved yesterdays,
the pain still stabbing,
the hurt still throbbing.
It’s not that we don’t know better;
it’s just that we can’t stand up
anymore by ourselves.
On the way to Bethlehem,
will you give us a hand?

we all need to love more.

John 15:9-17 (New King James Version)

Love and Joy Perfected

9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.

An Evening Prayer

I like the lyrics to this song but i think i’ve never blogged it anywhere. or if i have i probably forgot.

_____________________________________________________________________________

If I have wounded any soul today,

If i have caused one foot to go astray,

If I have walked in my own wilful way

Dear Lord, forgive!

If I have uttered idle words or vain,

If I have turned aside from want or pain,

Lest I offend some other thru the strain

Dear Lord, Forgive!

If I have been perverse, or hard, or cold,

If I have longed for shelter in the fold,

When Thou hast given me some fort yo hold,

Dear Lord, forgive!

Forgive the sins I have confessed to Thee;

Forgive the secret sins I do not see;

O guide me, love me and my keeper be

Amen, Amen.

more verses to uplift committee

1 Corinthians 12:14-27 (New International Version)

14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

1 Cor 15:58

Verse to uplift myself and for YA committee!!

58Therefore, my dear brothers (sisters), stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

prayer over internet!

btwn minrui, jinci and i

Heavenly Father Lord I give thanks for the outcome of this meeting.. that Lord I know you have guided our decisions and our paths and You have brought people up who love You to serve You Lord. I pray Lord for you to guide our meetings, our paths, our year ahead as the three of us lead YA together Lord, with Your guidance and Your direction alone. Father I pray You grant us the strength and the wisdom to do our planning, to love the people we are serving, and to be able to balance this on top of whatever we have Lord. I pray Father you let us never forget who we serve and why we serve, never to rely on our own abilities and strength but to rely on what You have given to us and what You have provided to us. Father I just commit this time ahead into Your hands, commit this entire year into Your mighty hands and and Lord I just pray You watch over us, and let the YA just grow from strength to strength. Father I give thanks for all this and I pray this in Jesus’ most precious name,

amen.

hebrews 2

was reading hebrews 2 today..and was particularly struck by verse 10.

In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.

i think it’s beautiful how the contrast is that Jesus has to be put through suffering and in this He is made perfect. God is not only a great author of salvation, but a great author of the Word.