HAND

Lord, keep me underneath Thy hand

Secure from harm;

Without Thee I cannot withstand

Storm or alarm.

Lord, keep me underneath Thy hand

Guided by Thee

Finding as under Thy command

Thy path for me.

Lord, keep me underneath Thy hand

Both warmed and blessed

Where in Thy love I understand

The way that’s best.

BENEFITS

“God’s benefits are

Administered to us through

Our Lord Jesus Christ.”

NO ONE ELSE

No one else has set me free;

No one else secured my heart;

No one else draws me apart:

No one else has died for me.

Some may give a high degree,

Some provide profound advice,

Some give presents of great price:

No one else has died for me.

No one else will hear my plea;

No one else can meet my need;

No one else will balm or feed:

No one else has died for me.

THOUGHTS ON JOHN (VII)

A man who follows

Jesus

Will continue till He comes.

A man who rests in

The bosom of Jesus

Will be maintained.

A man who leans on

His breast, Jesus

Will sustain.

And He will keep

Till His coming a man

Who enquires from Him.

This concludes my series of thoughts on John, written in 2009.

THOUGHTS ON JOHN (VI)

When there was a select few

You were among them.

With James your brother,

And Peter, the first, you observed

Christ, the resurrection and the life,

Awake Jairus's daughter.

You observed also

The Son of God glorified

On the mountain top.

And the sorrows of

The Son of the man at the press,

Gethsemane.

Andrew joined you three on the mount

Opposite Jerusalem

As the Prophet prophesied.

And with Peter, adjusted

By the man with the pitcher of water,

You went to prepare for what became

The Lord's supper.

With Peter you ran

To find a bare tomb

And you saw and believed.

And in that partnership

You stood by Peter's acclamation,

"In the name of Jesus Christ

The Nazareaen".

You barely mention

Any of these things.

THOUGHTS ON JOHN (V)

You usually think of John

As a contemplator: one whose mind

Had been moulded by dwelling on

The Word.

Why then was this the man

Who craved a high place

In the Lord's kingdom?

Why was this the man

Whose human zeal thought

To call fire from heaven?

Yet it was a mark

Of the Lord's approval

To call him and his brother

Boanerges.

And Christ accepts

No fleshly zeal.

THOUGHTS ON JOHN (IV)

Though the Saviour went to die,

First He gave His loved ones rest:

At the supper see John lie

In His bosom, on His breast.

Jesus answered the request

Of the one who drew so near

Where His love had cast out fear

In His bosom, on His breast.

One make then could take that place

But in times of faith and grace

You can be divinely blest

In His bosom, on His breast.

THOUGHTS ON JOHN (III)

By the cross of Jesus

Stood one who lay in

The bosom of Jesus.

In the tomb of Jesus

He who stood by the cross

Believed Christ was risen.

The man who had believed

That Jesus was risen

Could proclaim, "It is the Lord".

The one who has recognised

Jesus the Lord was seen

As following Jesus.

He who followed Jesus

Became in the Spirit,

Alone, on the Lord's day.

The one who became

In the Spirit could see

God's work in perfection.