Tuesday 27 December 2016

THE WELL

Clearly that day was not when first
Rebecca used the well's resource
For strength to slake the camel's thirst
Came since the well was her recourse.

What kindness Thou hast shown to us,
Blest Spirit, in that Thou wilt be
A constant living well, and thus
To give the power to go with Thee.

Such kindness, too, Rebecca showed
And this is what God's people show
Because God's grace has overflowed
To those who walk in Thee below.

Saturday 24 December 2016

PLEADING

"My Spirit shall not always plead",
God said.  And yet Thou didst plead on
In grace, but when men felt their need
The opportunity was gone.

Yet in our day Thou dost plead still
In the glad tidings of God's grace,
Pleading to "whosoever will",
While mercy waits in every case.

We honour Thy long-suffering
Throughout the dispensation's years,
And help for saints, which Thou dost bring
Till their long-suffering appears.

Wednesday 21 December 2016

MIST

Out of the earth a mist arose,
Providing moisture to the ground;
In this environment God chose
To make Man from the tilth He found.

Blest Spirit, fruit which God desires
Needs more that what grace has endued;
But what will suit God's eye requires
What by Thyself hast been imbued.

How blest that goodness may be known
In what Thy patience has secured;
What endless goodness Thou hast shown
So that God's pleasure is assured.

Monday 19 December 2016

VIGILANCE

O Holy Spirit, Thou didst show
Thy vigilance above the waste,
Alert on God's behalf to know
Firstfruits of what would suit His taste.

Although in Christ Thou didst have rest,
And, in His church, Thy dwelling-place
Thy skill and movements still attest
To patient watchfulness in grace.

Still Thou dost seek what suits God's heart,
Resulting from Thy work and ways;
Blest Spirit, knowing who Thou art
Thy patient love draws out our praise.

Friday 16 December 2016

I CANNOT TELL

I cannot tell how much my Saviour loves me -
Love led Him to the uttermost to save,
To bless, to heal, to ransom and to free me;
His love has set me free to be His slave.

I cannot tell how much the Shepherd loves me -
His way was far too hard, His woes too deep
For any other man to comprehend them;
But through them He secured me as His sheep.

I cannot tell how much the Bridegroom loves me
With love which longs to have me at His side;
He cherishes and nourishes me always
As I am part of His resplendent bride.

Tuesday 13 December 2016

THE LAMB

The Lamb is worthy to receive
Power, since in weakness He was here,
Upon a cross of shame;
There what no other could achieve
He did, extinguishing death's fear
For those who own His Name.

The Lamb is worthy to receive
Riches, because He came to dwell
Among the meek and poor;
Those whom He came to serve believe
That Jesus has done all things well
To save, and bless, and cure.

The Lamb is worthy to receive
Wisdom because in foolishness
He bore the cross in love;
Thus He is able to retrieve
Lost ones, and finally, to bless
With wisdom from above.

The Lamb is worthy to receive
Strength since, as Samson tore the beast,
He rent death's power away;
That which bereft He has bereaved
And gives us honey as a feast
Out of His victory.

The Lamb is worthy to receive
Honour, when He shall come again
To where He was despised;
No more to bear our sins, or grieve,
He will take up His right to reign
And be adored and prized.

The Lamb is worthy to receive
Glory, and have the highest place
Among the justified;
His sanctified companions cleave
To Him alone since, through His grace,
They too are glorified.

The Lamb is worthy to receive
Blessing because He came to bless
Through ways of grief and shame;
Bless then the One who chose to leave
The heights of heaven, and confess
The glory of His Name!

Wednesday 7 December 2016

THE HOLY SPIRIT: IF ...

If the wind blows where it will
Why did it blow upon me?
Touched by the sovereign Wind
Now there is life that is real;
Lacking that wonderful birth
All that the Spirit reveals
Would have been lost to my mist.

If I am conscious of life
Pulsing within me towards God
It must be life that's divine.
What, by the Spirit, is wrought,
Quickened together with Christ,
He will be sure to conform
Unto Christ's image, in fine.

If I experience joy
While I am still in this world,
So that my spirit is warmed,
This is because of His work:
Now He is shedding abroad
God's own ineffable love
Where in my heart He is lodged.

If I am able to cry
Using the voice of a son
- Words, "Abba Father", arise
Answering touches of love -
This is by power I derive
Through what the Spirit now does
And His abundant supply.

If I need guidance to move
Into more spiritual realms
Fleshliness must be eschewed -
None can approach them unless
Led by the Spirit of truth;
He who has searched in the depths
Gives me the power to pursue.

If I am joined to the Lord
Gaining His impulse within,
Answering here to His thoughts,
It is the Spirit who links;
If with the saints Christ has bought
Fellowship now can exist
It is the Spirit who bonds.

If I am soon vivified,
Even my body transformed,
Who is such quickening by?
Not merely "by" - but "because"!
Since God's own Spirit is live
In me what would be a corpse
Will be, like Christ, glorified.

Monday 5 December 2016

NEAR

The word is near
That in the gospel we can preach,
Which casts out fear:
Jesus is Lord and, by His breach
Through death, salvation is in reach.

The Lord is near
His own in testimonial days
With words of cheer
Sustaining them through desert ways
And waking their delighted praise.

The time is near
When Christ the Lord will take His throne;
He will appear
With myriad saints who are His own -
His through His work and worth alone.


Saturday 3 December 2016

THOUGHTS ON HEAVEN

First, who is there?  The Son,
Having made purification of sins,
Jesus the Son of God, able
To sympathise as High Priest;

The Minister of the holy places
And of the true tabernacle,
The Leader and Completer of faith,
Who endured the cross, Jesus,

And the One who says to faithful
Saints, “I will be to you for a Father”,
The Father of lights in whom is neither
Variation nor shadow of turning,
The God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The Father of glory, of whom Jesus
Said not only, “my Father” and “my God”.
But also, “your Father” and “your God”

And the Holy Spirit of God
Is privy to conversations
Of heaven.  He brings to saints
On earth communications heard
Above, so that God’s thoughts
Are known by alert Christians.

There are books there – one
Written before God, His record
Of those who fear Him, who often
Speak together; and the book
Of life of the slain Lamb – where
Are registered the names of the firstborn;
And – rejoice! – my name is written.

And are there the books
The movements of Christ here
Which the world cannot contain?

Blessing is there, stored
For outpouring through the windows
Of heaven; and mercy in which god
Is so rich; the riches of his
Grace; and the kindness of God.

And there are thrones there:
The throne of grace to which approach
Is so welcomed, facilitated by
Our sympathizing High Priest,
Where is store of mercy
And grace for seasonable help;

And the Father’s throne, where sits
Jesus, the Overcomer, crowned
By the Father’s pleasure, while all
This dispensation blessing descends
In the glad tidings of the glory;

And the throne of the greatness
- For “the greatness” is there -
Where our holy, harmless,
Undefiled, separated-from-sinners,
Gone-higher-than-the-heavens
Great High Priest abides
Serving both God and us;

And the throne of God - but
I do not merge or demerge
Thrones – for the Lord Jesus says
The heaven is the throne of God -
But take the force suggested,
And acknowledge divine authority
In the throne of the Supreme Ruler.
And what a display of thrones will be
When Christ takes His own
And enthroned round Him
Will be twenty four elders!
But even now, since we are seated
In the heavenlies in Christ we
Have a place for sitting there,

And there are many abodes
Fitted for the many families
Named and owned by the Father
For His eternal pleasure.
Yet for us the Lord Jesus
Has gone to prepare a place
By His presence in heaven, whence
He will receive us to Himself

And there are angels in heaven,
Demonstrating in created beings
The holy dignity of subjection.
How beautiful is their attendance
On their Master and Lord!  How
Beautiful their attention to us,
Lower than angels, but made,
Sons of the Living God;
But what their privilege as having
Before them the evidence of repentance
Of a sinner, seen in the joy
On the face of the Lord Jesus.

For there is joy in heaven,
And peace in heaven, secured
Also by the work of the Lord,
For heavenly things are too
Purified by the better sacrifice;
And there is power to forgive sins.

In vision Peter saw the sheet
Caught up to heaven, to its place
In concept, in Christ, where it remains
Till the time of actuality; when
She will descend with not only God’s
Glory, but with her own shining.

“Suddenly the sentence fell upon
My soul, ‘Your righteousness is in heaven’”;
In Jesus Christ at God’s right hand:
With wisdom, and holiness, and redemption,
For how much there is in one Man,
With everything entirely secure.

And there are relationships: heavenly
In character for a heavenly resolution:
Brethren of Christ, in purpose
And practice; the assembly for Christ;
Sons of the living God:
All established through Christ’s death
His resurrection, ascension and glory:
Relish these heavenly joys!

Heaven is the place of reception
Of prayer: “hear thou from the heavens”
Their prayer; “and their prayer came up
To His holy habitation, to the heavens”.
So the prayers and alms of Cornelius
Went up for a memorial before God.

And Enoch is there, and Elijah,
Caught up into heaven; and I doubt
Moses was returned to his grave.

“Jehovah will open the thee,
His good treasure, the heavens”;
For what a good treasure it is!
The stores of blessing abound,
As what in the past was eternally
In His mind, which will not diminish
In an eternal future, is unladen
Already upon the willing-hearted.

And in heaven’s impregnable vaults
I too keep treasure; where maggots,
Or oxidation can have no effect
And the burglars who make entry
Have jimmied there by repentance!
For I have a deposit entrusted
To heaven, to expend at my coming.

Jehovah stretched out the heavens by
His understanding – amazing to ponder
God presenting Himself as having
“His understanding”; what could be Greater
Than His understanding; everything
Not only created and sustained
But understood by God! Making
The heavens wisdom was beside Him
And now our wisdom is there in Christ
And wisdom is the benefit of His headship.

“But the wisdom from above first is
Pure, then peaceful, gentle
Yielding, full of mercy
And good fruits, unquestioning,
Unfeigned”: all that was seen
In Christ here – and in heaven.

Yet there is fire there; needed
For a holy God; needed
By a loving God’s favour
Who marked by fire His approval
Of the burnt-offerings and their givers,
Moses, and David, and Solomon,
And Elijah …  Yet what intensity
When it says, “the mountain burned with
Fire to the heart of heaven”:
Where has the concentration of holiness
Been seen?  And where the concentration
Of love?  Both at the cross.
How the heart of heaven felt it!

A Philippian was born with the rights
Of a citizen of Rome; the city
Was a colony of that polity;
And we are a colony of heaven
For our commonwealth exists there.

In God’s view it is normal
To have a representative in heaven;
So the children have their angels who continually
Behold the face of the Father;
But the believer has the High Priest
Appearing before the Father’s face
And the righteous Patron with the Father.

Once in actuality a man
In Christ was in heaven, and heard
Things unsuited to our state
In our present mortal condition;
Yet, wonderfully, he could
Hear them, and they embrued his ministry.

LAMED says, “For ever, O Jehovah,
Thy word is settled in the heavens”,
At the mid-point of ALEPH to TAU,
In the grand meditation on “the word”.
Blessed that the active word,
Which runs, which is glorified, which returns
Full, has its place of settledness.

Perhaps I should settle at that.