HERE I AM, LORD - by Caroline Gavin

Here I am, Lord,
Use me for Your pleasure,
Here I am, Lord,
No limit, no measure.

Fully Yours I am
Now and all eternity;
For Your purposes alone
I pray You use me.

Fill me with Your Spirit,
Guide me in Your way;
May I glorify You
In all I think, do and say.

Yea, here I am, Lord,
My arms stretched wide:
I am Your daughter, Your servant,
Your handmaiden, Your bride.

What is Your desire?
Say the word, and I shall do.
What is Your will?
I do all things for You.

Wherever You lead, Jesus,
Follow You I shall;
Whenever You beckon,
I hasten to Your call.

Here I am, Lord,
Worshipping on my knees;
My King, My God,
I live for You to please.

You give Yourself to me,
To You myself I give;
I let go of myself
That for You alone I live.

I am Your vessel,
Your instrument divine;
Humbled You love me,
Amazed You are mine.

Here I am, Lord,
Guide me in Your way;
I shall glorify You
In all I think, do and say.

Yea, fully Yours I am
Now and all eternity;
My Jesus, how I love You,
I pray You use me.

Here I am, Lord,
No limit, no measure.
Here I am, my Beloved,
Use me for Your pleasure.

THE PROBLEM IS WITH US, NOT WITH GOD !

“Don’t look at the circumstances and don’t look at what you can’t do. Look to your Lord. Call on His power. Trust His timing. Don’t put a period where God puts a comma.”

I have to confess that I have often looked at the circumstances and what I can’t do.  

I have  to confess that I have often put a period where God puts a comma.  

This is why I have chosen to focus on the word anticipation   for 2011.  I don’t want to settle for what I can do.  I want to trust God to do immeasurably more.  I want to anticipate that God will do immeasurably more !

Some of my favourite verses are Ephesians 3:20 - 21  which say:

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Let’s look closely at what God is able to do.




First, He is able – that is, there is nothing that God cannot do.  
Second, He is able to do – that is, God is not idle or asleep, but active in our lives. 



Third, He is able to do immeasurably more – that is, His expectations are higher than our requests.


Fourth, He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask – that is, He listens to our prayers.


Fifth, He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine – that is, God reads our thoughts.


Finally, He is able to do this according to His power that is at work within us – that is, God does all this through the power that is already in us.


The phrase translated “immeasurably more” here is the same word for the “abundant grace” of God in Romans 5:20 . It literally means, “Superabundantly, with more added to that.” It’s like saying “more than more than.”  God has enough power to do immeasurably more than we can ask or think with more added to that !


This leads to a question, doesn’t it? If this is true, why do we so often as Christians don’t live our lives in light of this and trust God to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine ?


There are really only two answers to that question. Either our theology is wrong and God is not able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine or, our theology is right, but we short-circuit the process.


Obviously, the problem is with us, not with God! We are not tapping into the power He has made available to us. We either don’t care or we think we can do it all in our strength.


We need to decide today to trust God to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us !

A PRAYER FOR THE NEW YEAR by Helen Steiner Rice

God grant us this year a wider view,
So we see others' faults through the eyes of You.
Teach us to judge not with hasty tongue,
Neither the adult ... nor the young.






Give us patience and grace to endure
And a stronger faith so we feel secure.
Instead of remembering, help us forget
The irritations that caused us to fret.
 





Freely forgiving for some offence
And finding each day a rich recompense.
In offering a friendly, helping hand
And trying in all ways to understand;








That all of us whoever we are ...
Are trying to reach an unreachable star.
For the great and small ... the good and bad,
The young and old ... the sad and glad
 








Are asking today; Is life worth living?
The answer is only in, loving and giving.
For only Love can make man kind
And Kindness of Heart brings Peace of Mind.






By giving love, we can help this year
To lift the clouds of hate and fear.


                                                         
                        

JESUS THE LAMB - by David Patterson

PRAISE  YOU  O  MIGHTY  FATHER  !

JESUS THE  LAMB







Born a gift, a lamb for slay
  Resting swaddled upon the manager hay
There, in stillness, silence lay
  The King born to be cast away.







Wise men searched in celestial wonder
  Worshipped beneath the distant thunder
In hallowed presence amongst cherub wings
  The wise men worship the wisest King.





Surrendered Jesus himself for me
  Took the sting of death for me
God’s eternal gift to me
  Ignites the grateful soul in me. 
 




Perished upon the cross for me,
  Punished upon the cross for me
Infant child, innocent lamb
  Swells a grateful soul in me.





All harm this moment kept at bay
  Heaven hushed upon hallowed hay
Salvation sleeps beneath celestial sea
  And rides upon the wings of eternity.

ROCK - by Mike Bullock

Are you like a stick of rock
With Jesus through and through
Every single place you go
He's always there with you
Permeates your being
He is your all in all
Brother you are trully blessed
Your'e worthy of the call.








Are you like a granite block
A Christian just by name
Making church your weekly fix
But leaving just the same
It's time for you to let Him
Throw wide your bolted doors
Then He can get to work on you
By dealing with your sores.







Only then can your love grow
As you're refined by fire
You'll depend upon Him more
As you rise from the mire
Thank Him for His patient love
He's had a job with you
With darkness fading into light
You finally have a view.

THE KNOTS PRAYER - Author Known To God

THE PSALM 51 - A Prayer for Cleansing

           

1	Have mercy upon me, O God,          according to thy loving-kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2	Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity,          and cleanse me from my sin.
3	For I acknowledge my transgressions:          and my sin is ever before me.
4	Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,          and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
5	Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;          and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6	Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts:          and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7	Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean:          wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8	Make me to hear joy and gladness;          that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9	Hide thy face from my sins,          and blot out all mine iniquities.
10	Create in me a clean heart, O God;          and renew a right spirit within me.
11	Cast me not away from thy presence;          and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.
12	Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;          and uphold me with thy free Spirit.
13	Then will I teach transgressors thy ways;          and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14	Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,          thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
15	O Lord, open thou my lips;          and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.
16	For thou desirest not sacrifice;          else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17	The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:          a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
18	Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion:          build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19	Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,          with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

                   




                 






                          

OUR GOOD LORD JESUS IS SMILING

Babel

Their tower’s impressive statistics
Pleased architects, boosters and mystics,
But their excess of pride
Caused the Lord to decide
It was time that they studied linguistics.

Pancakes

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, 5, Ryan, 3.
The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake.


Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson.


“If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, ‘Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.’”


Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, “Ryan, you be Jesus.”

Jesus Tries to Make a Point

Jesus saw a crowd chasing down a woman to stone her and approached them.


“What’s going on here, anyway?” He asked.


“This woman was found committing adultery, and the law says we should stone her!” one of the crowd responded.


“Wait,” yelled Jesus. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”


Suddenly, a stone was thrown from out of the sky, and knocked the woman on the side of her head.


“Aw, c’mon, Dad…” Jesus cried, “I’m trying to make a point here!”






   

PRAYER BEFORE STARTING WORK

My Heavenly Father, as I enter this work place,
I bring Your presence with me.
I speak Your peace, Your grace, Your mercy,
and Your perfect order into this office.
I acknowledge Your power over all that
will be spoken, thought, decided, and done within these walls.
Lord, I thank You for the gifts You have blessed me with.
I commit to using them responsibly in Your honor.
Give me a fresh supply of strength to do my job.
Anoint my projects, ideas, and energy,
so that even my smallest accomplishment
may bring You glory.

Lord, when I am confused, guide me.
When I am weary, energize me. When I am
burned out, infuse me with the light of the Holy Spirit.
May the work that I do and the way I do it bring
faith, joy, and a smile to all that I come in
contact with today. And oh Lord,
when I leave this place, give me traveling mercy.
Bless my family and home to be in order as I left it.
Lord, I thank you for everything You’ve done,
everything You’re doing, and everything You’re going to do.
In the Name of Jesus I pray, with much love and thanksgiving

Amen.