Hymn of the Week: Be Thou My Vision

Hymn of the Week: Be Thou My Vision

For years this hymn has been my go to song…from the time I was “in the convent” back in the late 1960’s to this very day no matter my Christian context. And recently it has been my morning song as I awaken the dawn walking in my area — even as the darkness is departing and my neighborhood owl is singing out the final hoo-hoo of his “day.”

And so I sing…even aloud…despite the high school young people passing me by on their way to the bus stop, wondering about this weird, white haired woman softly singing. I love the focus. I love the plaintive melody. I love my indwelling God who draws me toward thoughts of HIM Alone. And I love the story behind the song…

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Friends of God: "Be Thou My Vision"

Friends of God:  "Be Thou My Vision"

For years this hymn has been my go to song…from the time I was “in the convent” back in the late 1960’s to this very day no matter my Christian context. And recently it has been my morning song as I awaken the dawn walking in my area — even as the darkness is departing and my neighborhood owl is singing out the final hoo-hoo of his “day.”

And so I sing…even aloud…despite the high school young people passing me by on their way to the bus stop, wondering about this weird, white haired woman softly singing. I love the focus. I love the plaintive melody. I love my indwelling God who draws me toward thoughts of HIM Alone. And I love the story behind the song…

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SIMPLICITY IN CHRIST: "Be Thou My Vision"

SIMPLICITY IN CHRIST: "Be Thou My Vision"

For years this hymn has been my go to song…from the time I was “in the convent” back in the late 1960’s to this very day no matter my Christian context. And recently it has been my morning song as I awaken the dawn walking in my area — even as the darkness is departing and my neighborhood owl is singing out the final hoo-hoo of his “day.”

And so I sing…even aloud…despite the high school young people passing me by on their way to the bus stop, wondering about this weird, white haired woman softly singing. I love the focus. I love the plaintive melody. I love my indwelling God who draws me toward thoughts of HIM Alone. And I love the story behind the song…

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Respecting the Holy Spirit in Older Believers

Respecting the Holy Spirit in Older Believers

Recently, I was thinking about my mother and my mother-in-law and other older loved ones in my past…wishing I had been more understanding and sympathetic with their struggle with aging and weakness and decline. Now I find it’s my turn. And now I know what it feels like to age and say “good-bye” to capacities and people and opportunities and youthful strength.

So today I’m revisiting this post…for my own encouragement and for yours too, dear reader. We are all aging. May the Lord meet you in whatever stage of the process you are in.

And let’s support one another.

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The Signal in my Soul Afresh

The Signal in my Soul Afresh

With the change in daylight and the warmth of the weather here in Ohio, there is a signaling in my soul going on. It’s a signaling of the Springtime ahead, of course. But it is also a signal, a “call",” if you will, of my early morning habit, abandoned because of the dark and cold that flooded in months ago.

And so I have begun anew my early morning Walk, coffee in my new Yeti cup (thank you, Jeremy), and my beloved hymn sung from my soul.

Here’s how I have described it …

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SIMPLICITY IN CHRIST: "Be Thou My Vision"

SIMPLICITY IN CHRIST: "Be Thou My Vision"

For years this hymn has been my go to song…from the time I was “in the convent” back in the late 1960’s to this very day no matter my Christian context. And recently it has been my morning song as I awaken the dawn walking in my area — even as the darkness is departing and my neighborhood owl is singing out the final hoo-hoo of his “day.”

And so I sing…even aloud…despite the high school young people passing me by on their way to the bus stop, wondering about this weird, white haired woman softly singing. I love the focus. I love the plaintive melody. I love my indwelling God who draws me toward thoughts of HIM Alone. And I love the story behind the song…

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Respecting the Holy Spirit in Other Believers, including (or maybe especially) Older Believers

Respecting the Holy Spirit in Other Believers, including (or maybe especially) Older Believers

This past Sunday during worship, I was arrested by the final stanza and chorus in one of our worship songs:

My final breath shall be forever Jesus
When shadows lengthen before my eyes…
And I thought of the beautiful group of online sisters I lead on Tuesday evenings — most of us in our 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and even very close to 90! We are in various areas of the country, though mostly in Ohio. And we share so many things, mainly our love for Jesus and each other because we are sisters IN HIM!

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Be Thou My Vision -- a Hymn for my Every Day

Be Thou My Vision -- a Hymn for my Every Day

For years this hymn has been my go to song…from the time I was “in the convent” back in the late 1960’s to this very day no matter my Christian context. And recently it has been my morning song as I awaken the dawn walking in my area — even as the darkness is departing and my neighborhood owl is singing out the final hoo-hoo of his “day.”

And so I sing…even aloud…despite the high school young people passing me by on their way to the bus stop, wondering about this weird, white haired woman softly singing. I love the focus. I love the plaintive melody. I love my indwelling God who draws me toward thoughts of HIM Alone. And I love the story behind the song…

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Shine, Jesus, Flow!

Shine, Jesus, Flow!

I've spent much of my adult life in the conservative evangelical Christian "camp," so to speak. I still place myself there doctrinally but I disavow myself from the tendencies that were prevalent over the years to look at other believers as "enemy brothers and sisters," in particular, charismatic Christians. Thankfully, that trend has been changing in recent years. We now often embrace each other freely and even espouse each other's differences as our own.

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"All of God in all of me"

"All of God in all of me"

In recounting her journey to Christ as a young college student, Jill Briscoe tells of a little nurse who led her to the Lord during a hospital stay. The night Jill was saved and every night thereafter,  that wise little nurse encouraged her to go to sleep saying:

All of God in all of me.

Jill says, as a result of that truth etching itself in her mind and heart, she never doubted that when she received Christ, she had gotten all there is of God. 

... If the spirit is a person, then you can't receive a "bit" of the Spirit, just as you can't receive only a part of a person. So I had been given all of God I was going to get ...*
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Hebrews: Christ's Ascension to the Father...Key to my Life on this Earth!

ascension
ascension

A while ago, I heard a sermon on the Ascension of Christ.  To tell you the truth, I had never thought much of the Lord's Ascension.  My focus has always been on the death, burial, and resurrection of my Lord...and the incredible benefits to me as His child and disciple. But now that I am back in Hebrews again, I've remembered that sermon...and I'm pondering!  Pondering the glory of it all and its vital importance to my own spiritual walk in this sin-cursed world.

Andrew Murray, in his monumental work on the epistle to the Hebrews, says:

Faith has its foundation on four great corner-stones on which the building rests -- the Divinity of Christ, the Incarnation, the Atonement on the Cross, the Ascension to the Throne.  The last is the most wonderful, the crown of all the rest, the perfect revelation of what God has made Christ for us.  And so in the Christian life it is the most important, the glorious fruit of all that goes before. [emphasis mine], Holiest of All, p 65.

He goes on to say,

The Holy Spirit was sent down after the ascension.  Why?  That He might witness to us of a heavenly Christ, and bring the kingdom of heaven into our hearts and lives. [emphasis mine], Holiest of All, p 66.

How about exploring with me the five passages in Hebrews that speak of the ascended Christ sitting on the Throne at the right Hand of the Father?  What do you discover in the context of each?  Here they are --

Hebrews 1:3

Hebrews 1:13

Hebrews 8:1-2

Hebrews 10:11-14

Hebrews 12:1-3

Because our great High Priest is on the Throne, we can...Hebrews 4:14-16

Why?  Because of our key verse:  Hebrews 7:24-25

Now look at other related passages and start making your list of the benefits that are yours because Jesus our Great High Priest ascended to the right hand of the Father and sat down!

John 20:17 -- after the resurrection

Luke 24:44-53 -- the ascension into heaven

Acts 1:6-14; 2:1-36 [see especially 2:33-35!] -- the ascension & Pentecost

John 7:37-39 & John 16:7-14-- promise of the Holy Spirit

John 14:16-17 -- promise of indwelling of the Spirit; also look at Col 1:27

Ephesians 1:3, 20-23 -- spiritual blessings; power toward us who believe!

Ephesians 4:7-14 -- Christ's victorious ascension & giving of spiritual gifts

Col 3:1-4 -- life union with Christ -- Hallelujah!!!!

Romans 8:28-39 -- nothing can separate or condemn (see esp v34)

This brings us back full circle to our  key verse -- Hebrews 7:24-25

And then to the culmination of time:

Revelation 3:20-21; also chapters 21 & 22 -- awesome!

Christ's Ascension and Enthronment is so important, we dare not ignore it:

The ascension completes the resurrection. Without the resurrection Christ’s death would be meaningless as far as the great issues of life are concerned. And without the ascension, the resurrection would also be incomplete and meaningless. We would have a resurrected person, but not one who was now at God’s right hand in the place of authority.

Please note the progression:

  • First there is Christ’s descent to earth--God becoming man, the incarnation.
  • This is followed by Christ’s death and resurrection as the God-Man Savior.
  • But for God’s purposes to be fulfilled and our need supplied, there must also be Christ’s ascent into heaven as the God-Man Savior and King of His people.

“The ascension is the important link between His work on earth and His work in heaven which begins with the ascension” (Walvoord, Jesus Christ Our Lord, p. 224).

It is important to remember that the New Testament was written by men who were thoroughly convinced that Jesus was at the right hand of the Father, and that through the ministry of the Holy Spirit they were in union with this ascended Lord and were, by His commission and through His ascended authority and power, left here to continue the work which He began. J. Hampton Keathley III, "The Ascension of Jesus Christ,"  p.4 on bible.org

right hand of the father
right hand of the father

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At our Friday class in the book of Hebrews, one of our sisters shared that there is just one place in Scripture where it says that Jesus was standing at the right hand of the Father.  It was when He welcomed Stephen, the first martyr of the church, home to heaven.

It's an awesome passage and an awesome thought:  that the reigning King of glory, who had completed the work of redemption and sat down in the privileged place of power, would then get up to receive His child home. Could it be that He receives each of us that same way? Glory!

But he [Stephen], full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments vat the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. Acts 7:55-60 ESV

Jesus receiving us to heaven
Jesus receiving us to heaven

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andrew_murray_book
andrew_murray_book

Here's a free download of Andrew Murray's above mentioned devotional commentary on Hebrews...you will love it!

The Holiest of All by Andrew Murray

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bible.org
bible.org

For a more theological and scholarly approach, check out:

 The Ascension of Jesus Christ by J. Hampton Keathley III

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BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD ABOVE Selah

Before the throne of God above

I have a strong and perfect plea

A great High Priest whose Name is Love

Who ever lives and pleads for me

My name is graven on His hands

My name is written on His heart

I know that while in heaven He stands

No tongue can bid me thence depart

No tongue can bid me thence depart

When Satan tempts me to despair

And tells me of the guilt within

Upward I look and see Him there

Who made an end to all my sin

Because the sinless Savior died

My sinful soul is counted free

For God the Just is satisfied

To look on Him and pardon me

To look on Him and pardon me

Behold Him there the risen Lamb

My perfect spotless righteousness

The great unchangeable I AM

The King of glory and of grace

One with Himself I cannot die

My soul is purchased by His blood

My life is hid with Him on high

With Christ my Savior and my God!

With Christ my Savior and my God!

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A reminder about our homework.  After so many weather cancellations, it's easy to loose track of where we are in our study.  Here is the homework for the next lesson.  After our group discusses Heb 1:1-2:4, I may revise this post or do an addendum.  But in the meantime, here's the next homework:

Homework --   Read Hebrews 2: 5-18 Answer questions in Hoping for Something Better, p. 188-190 Read chapter 2, p. 21-36, Hoping…

Class notes for Hebrews 1:1-2:4 : THE BEAUTY OF THE INCOMPARABLE CHRIST

For a well-known sermon by A.B. Simpson, click on HIMSELF.  It is well-worth the few moments of reading!