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Daily Devotion April 22nd

Wednesday 22nd

Psalm 42

In this Psalm we have the narrative of an individual who it seems to use a modern phrase to be ‘down in the dumps’ spiritually. He seems to be low in spirit, we see this in verses 5 and verse 11 ‘Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?’

I think that we would all admit that sometime or other we have found ourselves in this place. Maybe more often than we would like to admit, we may have gone through a trying experience, we may have been faced with difficult circumstances, it may have been sickness, unemployment, feelings of rejection, the loss of someone, a marriage problem, the list could almost be endless and during those moments which seem to last for eternity we have gotten into a place of hopelessness and of feeling that it’s never going to end. Depression sets in, both an emotional and a spiritual depression and we find ourselves where the psalmist is, cast down, with an inner turmoil. In verses 9-10, the psalmist even questions the presence of God – have you been there? – maybe you are in that place at the moment – note what he says, ‘I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me?” he then gives us a little detail about what has caused his downcast soul, “Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”’

In the middle of his turmoil, depression, whichever label we want to give it, he feels that God has forgotten him. He feels all alone, he feels trapped within himself. Possibly thinking that his whole world was going to collapse in upon him or all around him, but, there is a glimmer of hope, even though his soul is downcast, even though he feels that God has forgotten him, the glimmer of hope is there like a flickering candle burning its last bit of wick, and twice he says ‘Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.’ (verses 5 and 11). His focus was turning from his hopelessness to the certainty of God’s help.

The spark would return, the joy would return, the hopelessness would be replaced with hope again, the turmoil will be replaced with peace again, the depression will lift and his spirit would soar again, because however deep into depression he went, even though he felt he’d been forgotten by God, he still clung onto God, even if from his point of view it may only have been by his finger-tips. For God was there, God hadn’t forgotten him.

Yesterday we considered Psalm 23 and the confidence we have that the Good Shepherd will be with us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, can I suggest to you today, that the same Good Shepherd will also be with you if you ever have to walk through the valley of depression, and if you are walking through that valley at this moment of time, there is hope, there is a way out, keep clinging onto the Shepherd.

My intention for todays devotion was actually to deal with verses 1-3, but as you can see I’ve not done that, somehow, and I can only believe it was the prompting of the Spirit the devotion has become what it is. I have a very strong conviction that God wants to speak into someone’s life, maybe that someone is you, you are struggling in the pit of depression, understand this, God is there and he wants to lift you up and bring you out. Reach out. Instead of clinging on with the tips of your fingers, place your hand firmly in His hand, it is a strong hand, it is a hand that will not let you go, it is a hand that wants to lead you forward into all that he has planned for you. Take the psalmists words and apply it to your own life, ‘Hope in God; for I shall praise him, my salvation, my God.’

The opening verses (verses 1-4) are the psalmist’s prayer, he wants his desire for God, for the things of God and for the house of God to be re-ignited again. Sometimes it is when we take our focus off God and of who he is that we begin to lose our way. Going through the period of time that we are at present, with restrictions upon us in regard to fellowshipping together, it would be easy to lose our focus, easy to start feeling sorry for ourselves, easy to get into a routine that will be difficult to break when the restrictions are over, may each one of us, be resolute to keep our focus on God, on the things of God and with a determined desire to be found in the house of God when we are able once again to go.

I was going to originally link this Psalm to another Psalm, 63, but I will close todays devotion with the opening verses, ‘O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.  Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.’

A few weeks ago, I was preparing to speak on the hands of Jesus and a song that I discovered at the time blessed me, so I will include it here as my hymn for the day. Feeling hopeless and lost? Place your hand in His hand.

Put your hand in the hand of the man

Who stilled the water

Put your hand in the hand of the man

Who calmed the sea

Take a look at yourself

And you can look at others differently

Put your hand in the hand of the man

From Galilee

When Jesus came into this world to bring salvation,

He grew up in a town with a bad reputation

And he walked among the common people who lived in galilee

And he knows all the troubles of a people like a you and a me

Put your hand

Now there’s more to the story that we can ever understand

Jesus was God in the flesh while walking this land

And he came to die and to rise again to take our fears away

So that we can live with peace and joy everyday

Unknown, Adapted Caroll Roberson CCLI 788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion April 21st

TUESDAY 21st

Psalm 23

I wonder going back to what I suggested on Sunday morning about listing seven of the Psalms, how many put Psalm 23 down? It is possibly one of the most well known and used Psalms and possibly most used portion of Scripture alongside ‘The Lord’s Prayer.’

And yet the reality is that so many who have used it whether at a wedding, funeral etc. do not actually know the Lord, let alone know him as their Shepherd. See it is a nice psalm, it speaks of nice things, but to know it’s benefits we need to know in a personal way the Shepherd it is referring to.

Can we truly say today that we know the Shepherd so that we can say ‘The LORD is my Shepherd?’

What are the benefits of knowing this Shepherd?

To list them:

We will not want

We lie in green pastures

We are led by still waters

Our soul is restored

We are led in the paths of righteousness

When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will not fear evil

The Shepherd is with us

His rod and staff comfort us

There is a table prepared before us in the presence of our enemies

Our head is anointed with oil

Goodness and mercy follow us – all the days of our life

We will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The Psalm covers our pilgrimage as we walk with the Shepherd through life from our getting to know him as our Saviour, that is, our walk with him in the present, and his being with us as we pass through death and into eternity.

In Johns gospel, Jesus says that he is a Shepherd, he uses another word to describe what kind of Shepherd he is – ‘I am the GOOD Shepherd. (John 10:11) In the epistles he is also described as the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4) and as the Great Shepherd. (Hebrews 13:12).

If the LORD is the Shepherd then it also means that we who claim to belong to the Shepherd must be sheep, and not just any sheep but HIS sheep. In Isaiah 53:6 we read ‘All we like sheep have gone astray’ but 2 Peter 2:25 says ‘For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.’  In Psalm 100, one of the songs the Children of Israel sang includes the line, ‘We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture’ thank God because the Good Shepherd came to seek and to save the lost we can now also declare that we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. ‘I was lost, but Jesus found me, Found the sheep that went astray, threw His loving arms around me, drew me back into His way.’

We are familiar with the parable of the lost sheep, (Luke 15:1-7) that parable speaks of where we all were, lost, until Jesus came looking for us and found us and saved us. Perhaps there may be someone reading this today and you are still lost, you are still like a sheep that has gone astray, today you can come in repentance and know forgiveness of sin and be brought into the fold of the Good Shepherd. It was after hearing the parable of the Good Shepherd being preached one Sunday evening that I came to give my life to Jesus.

In deciding what to bring from this Psalm I decided upon v4 ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.’

There are as we noted in the devotion on Sunday 19th April, many blessings attached to knowing Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. This verse, Psalm 23:4 speaks of one of the most comforting blessings that come from knowing the Lord as our Shepherd. To summarize it ‘when we are faced with death be it our own or that of someone who is close to us, we do not need to fear any evil, we do not need to be afraid, and two reasons,

1) Because the Shepherd who hung on the cross for us, the Shepherd who came looking for us, the Shepherd who is walking with us every day will still be with us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He made a promise that I will never leave you, even unto the end of the age and he is a promise keeper he will never leave us not even in the dark valley of death.

2) Because the Shepherd who is going to walk through that valley with us, has already been through it himself, and the good news is that by going through the valley of death himself, he conquered it, he destroyed its power. And here is some exciting news, in the book of Revelation we read that John the Apostle saw the risen Christ, our Shepherd, and as he looked upon him, it says, ‘he fell as if he was dead,’ but the Shepherd touched him and gave him some brilliant and exciting news; ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive for evermore.’ Now if Jesus had stopped there that itself would be awesome, but he didn’t stop there, he continued with more amazing news that should bring us comfort and a realisation that we do not need to fear death. What did he say? ‘AND I HAVE THE KEYS OF DEATH AND HADES.’ (Revelation 1) What does this mean for us?

It means that the keyholder of death will have those keys with him as we walk through the valley, therefore we need not fear because he also has the power to grant eternal life to all who have believed on his name. I like to picture walking through the valley of the shadow of death and Jesus is walking with me and every time a door appears with death written upon it, he rattles it and says to me, ‘look it’s locked and I’ve got the key’ and when we get to the other end there is a door that says ‘life’ and he opens it and he takes me through it and into his eternal presence. 

When it comes to the valley of the shadow of death it is something we have no choice over, one day we will all have to walk through it, but be encouraged as I have often said we may fear the way that we will die, its natural as we don’t want to suffer or go through pain, but we don’t need to fear death itself, this is why this Psalm is such a comfort to the believer.

 Sadly, many are dying at this time, we often hear that many are having to die alone, and we need to pray that in their final moments that men and women will cry out to God for mercy and salvation.

I have a Shepherd, One I love so well;

how He has blessed me tongue can never tell;

on the Cross He suffered, shed His blood and died,

that I might ever in His love confide.

Following Jesus, ever day by day,

nothing can harm me when He leads the way;

darkness or sunshine, whate’er befall,

Jesus, the Shepherd, is my All in All.

Pastures abundant doth His hand provide,

still waters flowing ever at my side,

goodness and mercy follow on my track,

with such a Shepherd nothing can I lack.

When I would wander from the path astray,

then He will draw me back into the way;

in the darkest valley I need fear no ill,

for He, my Shepherd, will be with me still.

When labour’s ended and the journey done,

then He will lead me safely to my home;

there I shall dwell in rapture sure and sweet,

with all the loved ones gathered round His feet

Leonard Weaver CCLI 788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion April 20th

MONDAY 20th

Psalm 8

This short Psalm ends the same way that it starts, ‘O LORD, our LORD, how majestic is your name in all the earth!’

It is a declaration of who God is – He is the LORD, ‘O LORD’, but it is also a further declaration that he is ‘OUR LORD’ and then a third declaration that is ‘name is majestic in all the earth.’

I can imagine that the psalmist David has stopped wherever he was and with whatever he was doing and looked up into the sky, maybe from a high vantage point, and then looked at all he could see around him and suddenly become overwhelmed with the splendor, majesty, grandeur and greatness of the LORD God. He says, ‘When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers; the moon and the stars, which you have set in place . . .’(v3) In a later Psalm, David declares; ‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.’ (Psalm 19:1) In seeing all that God has created, it is as if he sees God’s signature in it all, the very majestic name of God written in everything for all to see.

But then, after trying to comprehend the greatness of God in all that he has seen, imagine it, the beauty of the delicate flower, the incredible wonder of the buzzing bee, the thunderous roar of a waterfall, or gentle flowing of a stream, the incredible vastness of the ocean and the almost unbelievable expanse of the heavens on a clear night where the eye is drawn from one star after another, till if you start to count, well in no time at all you have to give up, because there are so many, he then looks at himself, and he thinks of his fellow human kind and says: ‘What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?’ (v4) The CSB puts it this way, ‘What is a human being that you remember him, a son of man, that you look after him?’ (See also Psalm 144:3-4)

When we stop and think about it, it is a very good question. In the scheme of all that God has created, in the vastness of it all, and we know that scientific technology is getting better all the time, causing man with the use of telescopes to see far further out than ever before, what is man? And secondly that God should be mindful of him or that God should care for him? It’s a big, vast universe God, surely you have got better things to do than to look after me? And the answer would come back ‘No, I care about you and I care for you and I think about you all the time.’ To re-quote a verse I used yesterday, David said in Psalm 139:17-18 ‘How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them.’ He then continues in the next verse, ‘IF I could count them, they are more than the sand!’

Let’s pause there for a moment – as I am preparing these thoughts, I stopped myself and wondered ‘Why am I using this same verse two days in a row, how come the Holy Spirit has led me this way again?’ and this is my answer. Someone needs to hear this, someone needs to be reminded of this very thing – God cares for you, God is mindful of you, and God is thinking about you. I’m reminded of the chorus that goes; ‘I’m special because God has loved me, for he gave the best thing that he had to save me, His own Son Jesus, crucified to take the blame for all the bad things I have done.’ You are special to God – the words he spoke over Israel are words he speaks over his children today -Isaiah 43:1 ‘But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob (REPLACE THIS WITH YOUR NAME), he who formed you, O Israel (REPLACE THIS WITH YOUR NAME): “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.  In the words of Malachi 3:17 (“They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.) You are God’s treasured possession, the KJV says; ‘my jewel.’

What is man? If we go back to the creation story, we have the various days of creation and as we know it was on the last day, day six that God decided to create man. This is what he said, Genesis 1:26-27 ‘Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.’

Then in the following verses 28-31, ‘And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.’

These verses indicate that the creation of man was the pinnacle or the high point of Gods creative work. Yes, the heavens and the earth were amazing, the sun and the moon and the stars, the sea and oceans, the rivers and streams, the trees and the flowers, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea and the creatures roaming on the land they were all good and worthy of magnifying the name of the LORD but after God had created man, he gave him dominion over everything, he gave him the responsibility of being the caretaker as it were of the created world all around him, and whereas everything else that God created was good, after the sixth day, when man had been formed and completed the creatives work, God declared ‘it was very good.’

Of course we know that because of the forbidden fruit being partaken of, it all went pear shaped, But although God banished the original pair out of the garden of Eden, he didn’t forget mankind, he immediately put into action the plan he had prepared before the foundation of the world to redeem man back unto himself.

And ever since that sixth day of creation, God has always been mindful of mankind, God has always cared for mankind, God has always worked for and toward mankind both with his common grace towards all and with his saving or special grace toward all who would believe. Yes, in comparison to all that we can survey, we may as individuals seem to be like a tiny spec, insignificant and unimportant, but not to God, he has loved each one of us with an everlasting love. He cares for you, he cares for me.

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the works Thy Hand hath made,

I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,

Thy pow’r throughout the universe displayed,

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art! How great Thou art!

When through the woods  and forest glades I wander

I hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur

And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze,

And when I think that God His Son not sparing,

Sent him to die – I scarce can take it in,

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin.

When Christ shall come, with shouts of acclamation,

And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!

Then I shall bow in humble adoration

And there proclaim, “My God, how great Thou art!”

Stuart Hine CCLI788682

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Daily Devotion April 19th

Sunday 19th

Psalm 103

Yesterday we looked at a verse from Psalm 91, today and through this week I want to continue in the Psalms. I wonder if you were limited to choosing seven Psalms which ones would you choose? Perhaps that would be a good exercise today, to compile your personal list. I have chosen seven for this week, but I have not particularly chosen what would be my top seven simply because my list would include at least three that we won’t use this week. My list would include Psalm 1, has it’s always been one of my favourites, and Psalm 121 and Psalm 19.

Today I have chosen Psalm 103, verses 1-5. 

These first few verses in this psalm are probably verses that I quote or use more than any other in prayer, especially verse 1, verses 1-5, ‘Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.’

Just pause for a moment or two and consider the wonder of these words.

‘Forget not all his benefits’ if I were to give a New Testament comparison, it would be Ephesians 1:3 ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’ I have already mentioned about listing what would be your top seven Psalms, here is a bigger challenge, how about beginning to list the many benefits or blessings we have received in Christ.

In Psalm 139:17, David says ‘How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them.’ He then continues in the next verse, ‘IF I could count them, they are more than the sand!’ In an earlier Psalm he says, ‘You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you!’ (Psalm 40:5) If David could say these things before Calvary has happened, how much more so can we who have known the wonder of Calvary’s love and grace. His blessings towards us are like his thoughts toward us, they are more than the sand. 

‘Who forgives all your iniquity’ read what it says later in the same Psalm, verse 12, ‘as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.’  Re-read this and declare it loud and clear, if we have been to the cross in repentance, our sin HAS been removed and we have been justified by his precious blood! The devil can throw every accusation against us that he wants to, but not one accusation will stand as we remain firm in our position in Christ Jesus, because we have been forgiven and we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus himself,  who is standing in God’s presence on our behalf. 1 John 1:9 ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’

‘Who heals all your diseases’ ‘Oh dear’ this is a tricky one, if he heals all our diseases how come so many of the household of faith are sick and suffering? Well, no it’s not tricky for God does have the power to heal all our diseases – he has healed us from the worse of them all – the disease of sin which had left us spiritually dead and thanks to his death on the cross and the power of his resurrection, by grace we have been saved and we have been made spiritually alive again. (Ephesians 2) But alongside reading Scripture concerning healing we need to remind ourselves that although we have been made alive spiritually or quickened as the KJV says,  we are still living in a fallen world, and we still suffer some of the consequences of the fall, as Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 4:16 ‘So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.’ But thank God one of the blessing of being in Christ is that one day that which is wasting away, perishing, and decaying will be transformed into a glorious new eternal body. Another Scripture that should help us in this is Romans 8:23-25 ‘And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (See also 1 Corinthians 15:42-49) And although healing can and does take place in the present, the day is coming when all sickness and disease will be done away with – and as a result of what? – Christ’s redemptive work, and so he does heal all our diseases, sometimes it happens in the present but most definitely for every believer it will happen as we enter eternity. As I have said in an earlier devotion, (March 28th) if our healing doesn’t happen today, he gives us his grace to strengthen us in the present and as a sure and certain hope for the future.

‘Who redeems your life from the pit’ In the CSB* the word pit is capitalized to Pit, this then means it is referring to a specific place. It is referring to ‘Sheol’, the place of the dead, or the place where the dead go to. The psalmist is rejoicing that because of his hope and confidence in God, when he dies, he will not go to the place of the spiritually dead, because he has been redeemed from it. So where will he go? Well instead of the Pit those who are spiritually alive will go to Paradise! Remember what the response of Jesus was to the dying thief on the cross? ‘Today you will be with me in Paradise’ In other words instead of the PIT and as a result of Christ’s resurrection, we go to where the Saviour is and perhaps better to put it this way, we go into the PRESENCE of our Saviour. And we who are born again by the Spirit of God have been redeemed from the pit, from the place of the spiritually dead. For the unbeliever the Pit is not good news, because the New Testament enlarges further and talks of the unrighteous dead being raised and cast with the devil and his wicked angels into the Lake of Fire which will be a place of eternal punishment,(Revelation 20:7-15) but for us who are believers, our body may be temporarily placed in the ground, but our redeemed spirit / soul will enter into his presence awaiting the glorious resurrection day. (1 Corinthians 15:50-58)

‘Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s’. Because of time I will sum these thought up by using Scripture, just ponder upon the wonder that instead of a golden crown studded with diamond on our heads, we have been crowned with something far more precious and valuable – the steadfast love and mercy of God.

Psalm 5:11-12 ‘But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favour as with a shield.’

Psalm 107:8-9 ‘Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.’

Matthew 5:6 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.’

Isaiah 40:30-31 ‘Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.’

Oh yes, my list which we will look at the rest of this week – Psalm 8, Psalm 23, Psalm 42, Psalm 100, Psalm 123, Psalm 34.

*CSB Christian Standard Bible

Lately I’ve been looking back, along this winding road 

To the old familiar markers of the mercies I have known 

I know it may sound simple but it’s more than a cliche

There’s no better way to tell you, than to say

God’s been good in my life

I feel blessed beyond my wildest dreams when I go to sleep each night

And though I’ve had my share of hard times, I wouldn’t change them if I could

‘Cause through it all, God’s been good

Times replay and I can see that I’ve cried some bitter tears 

But I felt His arms around me, as I faced my greatest fears

You see I’ve had more gains than losses and I’ve known more joy than hurt

As His grace rolled down upon me undeserved

For God has been my Father, my Savior and my Friend

His love was my beginning, and His love will be my end

I could spend forever trying to tell you everything He is

But the best thing I can say is this . . . God’s been good . . .’

Unknown CCLI 788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion April 18th

SATURDAY 18th

Psalm 91

We return today to the theme I started yesterday of being covered.

It’s a word that gets used a lot today in reference to insurance. We need insurance to cover our car, our homes, our possessions, even our lives! Thank God we who are the redeemed of the Lord have not only cover, we have full cover!

In this psalm which is a favourite of many we see the word ‘cover’ used in verse 4. ‘He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.’ (NIV)

‘Covered with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.’ This paints a beautiful picture in our minds, I am sure we have all at some time seen a hen with a brood of chicks gathered under her feathers, having been brought up on a farm it was a sight I often saw as we had hens and ducks. If ever we would make our way toward a hen with her chicks, the closer we got the more protective she became until eventually she would make sure that all the brood were safely nestled under her wings and it didn’t matter whether she had just 2 or 3 chicks or a brood of ten, the protection was there for them all.

Now, of course we know God is Spirit, but often the Bible refers to God as if he has particular features, such as his hand that is not shortened that it cannot save, his eyes that are roaming the earth, his feet which use the earth has a footstool, these types are given in a way that we as humans can be enabled to understand about who God is. Not what he looks like, but who he is as God in his character and in his providential and saving care for mankind. We know he doesn’t have literal feathers, but it helps us to understand that he is a God who like the hen wants to protect his children.

Scripture is full of other similes that speak of God as a protector. For example, in Proverbs 18:10 we read ‘The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.’ In other word, his name covers us. But in Psalm 61:3 we read ’for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.’ The first says it is the NAME that is a strong tower, the second says ‘YOU’ that is God himself is a strong tower. We can understand in these examples that not only do we call on the name of the Lord for protection, but we can run into the Lord for protection.

We have just moved to the North East from North Wales and scattered along the coast in North Wales, in around 60 miles there is a string of castles including, Flint, Rhuddlan, Conwy, Caernarvon. These were built to be places of fortitude, refuge and protection. The people would fight from within the safety of the castle walls, and if an attack was impending, they would run to the safety of the castle walls.

We have One who is like a hen, waiting for us to run under his feathers for protection, but he is also like a castle, a fortress, and we can run into him for safety. We don’t have to fight our individual battles alone in our own strength, we can fight them from the safety of our Fortress, our Strong Tower. 

Consider some of these Psalms that remind us that Our God is a strong defence and a strong defender:

Psalm 3:3, Psalm 9:9, Psalm 16:1, Psalm 18:1-3, Psalm 27:1, Psalm 31:3, Psalm 46:1, Psalm 62:5-7, Psalm 71:1-3,

If there is anything we have learned over the past few months it is that anything that we try to build our lives upon and around in this world is very unstable, whatever protections we may have put in place they are but temporal, or maybe even worthless, whatever protection or help the government has put in place is temporal, as time moves on, the goal posts may be moved, the safety nets may break or fail, but not our Protector, not our Safety Net, Not our God. He is Constant, Firm and Dependable.

May we continually run under his feathers, may we continually run into his Name, may we continually run into Him.

We won’t fear the battle, we won’t fear the night

We will walk the valley with You by our side

You will go before us, You will lead the way

We have found a refuge, only You can save

Sing with joy now: our God is for us

The Father’s love is a strong and mighty fortress

Raise your voice now, no love is greater

Who can stand against us if our God is for us

Even when I stumble, even when I fall

Even when I turn back, still Your love is sure

You will not abandon, You will not forsake

You will cheer me onward with never-ending grace

Sing with joy now: our God is for us

The Father’s love is a strong and mighty fortress

Raise your voice now, no love is greater

Who can stand against us if our God is for us

Neither height nor depth can separate us

Hell and death will not defeat us

He who gave His son to free us

Holds me in His love

Neither height nor depth can separate us

Hell and death will not defeat us

He who gave His son to free us

Holds me in His love

Sing with joy now: our God is for us

The Father’s love is a strong and mighty fortress

Raise your voice now, no love is greater

Who can stand against us if our God is for us

Sing with joy now: our God is for us

The Father’s love is a strong and mighty fortress

Raise your voice now, no love is greater

Who can stand against us if our God is for us

City Alight CCLI 788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion April 17th

FRIDAY 17th

Ruth 3:1-18

Over the last few days (I’m writing this two weeks ahead so for me it’s Friday 3rd) there has been a simple little chorus that has been running through my head as I’ve been studying, relaxing and walking, and some may not have even heard it, but it comes from the book of Ruth chapter 3 and verse 9 here it says, ‘He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.”’

The context of this story is concerning Ruth who along with her mother-in-law (Naomi) and sister-in-law (Orpah) had been widowed during a time of famine. Ruth had remained faithful to her mother-in-law (Ruth 1:16) and had returned to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. (Ruth 1:22)

Ruth requested permission from her mother-in-law, Naomi to go and to glean barley. Permission given she ended up gleaning in the field of one of Naomi’s family members called Boaz. The story moves on and the subject of a ‘redeemer’ crops (excuse the harvest pun) up.

What is meant by the word ‘redeemer’ in this context? In Jewish law it comes from the responsibility of a family member to marry the widow of a family member who has died and to redeem their fields if they had to sell them, to keep property within the family and to raise up a child and to keep the family connection.

In our text Ruth was going to seek ‘her redeemer’ and under Naomi’s instruction was going to see if Boaz would take up the responsibility. (take some time to read the whole book). This brings us to 3:9.

But Boaz, tells Ruth that although he is a family redeemer, there is one who is a closer family member than he who should be taking up the responsibility. (3:12) So in the next chapter they give opportunity for the closer relative to be the redeemer, if he doesn’t wish to take up the responsibility, then Boaz will. The end result is that the closer relative declines (4:1-8) and gives his permission for Boaz to redeem and he eventually takes Ruth to be his wife and they eventually have a child who was called Obed who was the father of Jesse who in turn was the father of David and the rest as they say is history which has led to ‘our redemption story’ through David’s greater Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, what about the chorus? I have to be honest because of the words I assumed it must have come from the KJV translation until I turned to check, then the NIV, until I turned to check and then I checked a few more and decided that whoever wrote the chorus had made their own translation! Here it is: (I wonder how many of you had already guessed?)

‘Cover me, Cover me,

extend the border of your mantle over me,

for you are my nearest kinsman,

cover me, cover me, cover me.’

It is a chorus that causes us to cry out to our redeemer, to cover us or to redeem us, to bring us into His family. And our Redeemer is David’s greater Son, the one whose earthly parentage comes from the very one who covered Ruth in the threshing mill, the One who came to redeem us, to buy us back, to bring us close to himself and into His family. As a result, we can declare with confidence today, because of our Redeemer, I am a child of God, he calls my name.

As a result of the little chorus, I have been thinking about the word ‘cover’ and we will turn to it again tomorrow. Today, rejoice that we have been redeemed.

Redeemed–how I love to proclaim it!

Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;

Redeemed through His infinite mercy,

His child, and forever, I am.

Redeemed, redeemed,

Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;

Redeemed, redeemed,

His child, and forever, I am.

Redeemed and so happy in Jesus,

No language my rapture can tell;

I know that the light of His presence

With me doth continually dwell.

I think of my blessed Redeemer,

I think of Him all the day long;

I sing, for I cannot be silent;

His love is the theme of my song.

I know I shall see in His beauty

The King in whose way I delight;

Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps,

And giveth me songs in the night.

Copyright: Lyrics © Original Writer and Publisher  CCLI 788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion April 16th

THURSDAY 16th

John 21:1-14

Another familiar portion of Scripture today which I am not going to spend the devotion going through in its entirety but to go to verse 12, ‘And Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.”’ Jesus then shared with them some bread and fish.

This account is the third time that Jesus has revealed himself to the disciples, post resurrection.

In yesterday’s devotion, the two men had taken supper with Jesus, in today’s devotion the seven who had gone fishing were having breakfast with Jesus.

I’m not so sure that I would have been very impressed with the breakfast menu ‘fish and bread’ as I am not a lover of fish, I would have preferred a ‘Subway’ breakfast or a ‘sausage McMuffin’ but I guess to have it served by Jesus himself would have been something special and so it would have been impolite to say no. And anyway, if it has come from Jesus, then ‘what harm could it do me?’

I remember going to visit someone from the Church where I was at that time pastoring and I took one of our sons with me. The host had made us some sandwiches to have with a cup of tea, and guess what they were?  ‘tuna’ sandwiches. I don’t like ‘tuna’. When I say don’t like tuna you can underline it and put it in bold letters, I don’t like tuna!  But what made matters worse not only did I not like ‘tuna’ but neither did our son! What were we going to do?

Well, first, I for the sake of politeness decided I would eat mine as fast as I could without it touching the sides as the saying goes, so while the host was out in the kitchen that is what I did. Then a bigger problem, our son was not going to eat his sandwiches, what to do with them? ‘You’ll have to eat it dad,’ he whispered to me, and so mustering all the enthusiasm I could, which was zero, down his sandwiches went as well! An even bigger problem – remember I said one Sunday morning how I like my jam to be put lavishly on my toast? Well, the host had been more than generous and lavish with the tuna and I felt yukky afterwards. But guess what, I survived! I have lived to tell the tale, I didn’t like the tuna, but it didn’t harm me.

Jesus invites us to ‘Come’.

In the Old Testament we are encouraged to:

‘Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD; though your sins are like scarlet they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.’ (Isaiah 1:18)

 ‘Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.’ (Isaiah 55:1)

In the New Testament we are encouraged to:

 ‘Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”’ (Matthew 11:28-30)

The ‘COME’ I want to highlight is this one: (sadly my ESV doesn’t have the word come)

 ‘“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”’ (Mark 1:17 NIV2011)

Oh dear! Fish again!

Jesus invites us to ‘come,’ not to have a bread and fish breakfast, but to go and fish, to go on a journey with him. See the Christian journey isn’t a picnic, it isn’t a walk in the park, but one thing is for sure it is the only journey in life that we can take that will arrive at the right destination. Everything else that the world has to offer leads to a dead end, as the Bible says, to destruction. But the journey Jesus calls us or invites us onto when he calls ‘come’ is the journey that leads to life everlasting. (Matthew 7:13-14 ‘“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.’)

As he called the disciples, so he calls each one of us. But the journey isn’t always going to be easy, there may be times when the going gets tough, it may require us to go places, say things, do things etc. which at the time won’t be easy. But there is one thing that is sure, if he has called and we obey he will be with us. It may require us to go through unpleasant circumstances, trying times and tribulation but if what life throws out at us has been served up by the Saviour himself, we will not come to any harm. For as we obey him and walk in his way, he will be with us.

Yes, if I had been at the breakfast I would much preferred to have made my own choice and so often we want to make our own choices in life, but if fish is what is on the menu of God’s will then fish it must be, even if it’s tuna!

Jesus has a table spread

Where the saints of God are fed,

He invites His chosen people, “Come and dine”;

With His manna He doth feed

And supplies our every need:

Oh, ’tis sweet to sup with Jesus all the time!

“Come and dine,” the Master calleth, “Come and dine”;

You may feast at Jesus’ table all the time;

He Who fed the multitude, turned the water into wine,

To the hungry calleth now, “Come and dine.”

The disciples came to land,

Thus obeying Christ’s command,

For the Master called unto them, “Come and dine”;

There they found their heart’s desire,

Bread and fish upon the fire;

Thus He satisfies the hungry every time.

Soon the Lamb will take His bride

To be ever at His side,

All the host of heaven will assembled be;

Oh, ’twill be a glorious sight,

All the saints in spotless white;

And with Jesus they will feast eternally.

Charles B. Widmeyer CCLI 788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion April 15th

WEDNESDAY 15th

Luke 24:13-35

Today’s reading is a familiar passage of Scripture. It follows on from the verses reporting the discovery by Mary and the ladies who were with her of the empty tomb, and the message they had heard ‘He is not here, but has risen.’ They then went to report to the disciples.

When the ladies told the disciples about the empty tomb, there is a phrase used that tells us what the disciples thought on hearing the news – ‘but these words seemed to them an idle tale.’(v11) In other words, the news that ‘Jesus was alive’ seemed like a fairy tale.  Thankfully the disciples soon discovered it was true as Jesus began to appear to them in various ways.

It is very much the same today, when we declare the good news of the gospel, the news that Jesus has died for sin and risen again for our justification, the majority think we are ‘talking idle tales’. But thank God we have come to believe, and we pray that many more will come to believe as Jesus makes himself known to them.

In our Scripture for today we have the account of the two on the road to Emmaus. Scripture tells us they were on a seven-mile journey, which gave them plenty of time to talk about the events from over the last few days.

They had heard the news that Jesus was alive, but they hadn’t yet seen him – or so they thought! For, as they walked and talked a stranger caught up with them and began to join in the conversation. This third person wanted to know what they were talking about, and the two men it says, ‘stood still, looking sad.’ They answer the third man by saying (in my own words) ‘Are you for real, don’t you have a clue about what’s been going on in Jerusalem the last few days?’ Then the third person says, ‘What things?’ The two then continued to explain about Jesus of Nazareth and the events of the few days. It makes me chuckle when I read the story, as they tell this man everything and yet at the same time, he already knows! Then he responds to them, ‘O foolish ones . . . and beginning at Moses he tells them the whole story of God’s plan concerning himself’ 

It must have been the most incredible Bible Study, only three in attendance, while on the move and the one teaching was the greatest teacher of all time.

The study and the journey came to an end and as the third man was seeming to want to go further on, they invite him to come and stay and have supper with them. V30-31 ‘When he was at the table with them, he took the bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognised him. And he vanished from their sight.’ I love the next verse when the two men comment to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scripture.’ Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to have had this experience, and yet whenever we hear God’s Word read, or taught, or preached it should excite us because it is living and powerful.

They had started the journey almost clueless, they knew about the events of the cross, they had heard about the empty tomb and suddenly on their journey even without realising it they had had a spectacular conversation with Jesus and then at the point of supper they recognised and knew who he was. For us, we may have started our Christian journey clueless, but bit by bit, step by step, little by little, through various means and methods the Holy Spirit reveals himself to us, and teaches us so that the further we go the more we see and know of Jesus.

And after supper, they went to bed, excited but tired from their journey, to have a rest and to mull over in their minds what had happened.

No, not at all, the Scripture continues, they went the same hour, that is straightaway and returned the seven miles back to Jerusalem, to find the disciples and to share the news, ‘The Lord has risen indeed’ and then told them how he was known to them in the breaking of bread.

Why go straight away, why not wait until the morning, who could have blamed them, they had already walked seven miles. Well, the news was too good to keep to themselves, they were excited that Jesus was alive and that they had seen him and had met with him and had talked with him and had eaten with him, so excited they wanted to immediately tell others.

This reminds me of an Old Testament verse in 2 Kings 7:9 ‘Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king’s household.”’

May God touch our hearts in such a way that it will cause us to be so excited again about the gospel and our own personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ that we won’t be willing to just wait for opportunities to share but rather that we will make the opportunities to share. Willing to go not necessarily seven miles but even seven feet (remember we need to keep six feet between at the moment 😊) to share the gospel with someone.

Make me a channel of Your peace

Where there is hatred, let me bring Your love

Where there is injury, Your pardon Lord

And where there’s doubt, true faith in You

Make me a channel of Your peace

Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope

Where there is darkness, only light

And where there’s sadness, ever joy

Oh Master, grant that I may never seek

So much to be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand

To be loved as to love with all my soul

Make me a channel of Your peace

It is pardoning that we are pardoned

In giving to all men that we receive

And in dying that we’re born to eternal life

Make me a channel of Your peace

Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope

Where there is darkness, only light

And where there’s sadness, ever joy

Songwriters: TRADITIONAL, JON COHEN

© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC CCLI 788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion April 14th

TUESDAY 14th

1 Corinthians 15:35-58

We continue where we left off yesterday and go straight into the next point.

3.The Imperishable future of the believer verses 35, 42 – 54

I just love these verses. They speak so clearly and powerfully of the resurrection of the body. At the point of believing / coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ the spirit which was spiritually dead because of sin is made alive, but the body still undergoes the effects of sin upon the human-race. Believers and unbelievers alike perish outwardly. In various degrees we all know sickness, we all know suffering, we all know pain, and we will all know death and decay. But the wonder of this gospel that Paul preached is that there is going to be a wonderful glorious resurrection of the body, reunited with the spirit / soul in the presence of Jesus.

It doesn’t matter how the human remains have been disposed of, nor how long the body has been decaying for, or where the ashes may have been scattered. Our God is all powerful and just as he formed man out of the dust of the earth and breathed the breathe of life in him at creation so on the day of the resurrection this same power will raise the mortal remains and give life to our mortal bodies. In Romans 8:11 we read: ‘If the same Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.’ And what a transformation, as seen here in these verses in 1 Cor 15:42-44, 51-55 and summed up in Revelation 21, ‘He will wipe away all tears from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’

We have all seen how much pain many have suffered even perhaps ourselves here in our mortal bodies, but thanks be to God the day is coming when all suffering will be over, one day when the trumpet sounds our bodies will be raised imperishable, raised in glory, raised in power, raised a spiritual, glorious body, and we will be rejoicing, pain free in the presence of our Saviour.

I love the confidence that Job had when he expressed ‘For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.’ Job 19:25-27 He is so overwhelmed with this wonderful truth that he continues ‘My heart faints within me!’ Its as if he is saying what we would say today, ‘this is so amazing that I’ve got butterflies in my tummy, because I’m so excited about it!’

4.The Incomparable hope of the Christian faith verses 55 – 58

Why was Paul so passionate about this gospel he talks about in this chapter? Why did he want to write to the believers and remind them about its importance? Well, whatever answers we could give, one of them is this: Because this gospel is INCOMPARABLE. There is nothing else like it.

The world is full of faiths, religions, isms, cults, spiritual experiences but NOT ONE OF THEM offers to the lost sinful human soul the hope that he needs and the hope that the Christian gospel gives.

Jesus is our hope.

It is only within the Christian gospel that someone has willingly died to bring salvation, It is only within the Christian gospel that the one who died also rose again, It is only within the Christian gospel that our eternal destiny can be guaranteed, It is only within the Christian gospel that a man, woman, boy or girl can be truly reconciled to God the creator and judge of all. It is only through the Christian gospel, or the provision of that gospel in the Lord Jesus Christ that death is swallowed up in victory, notice what verse 56 says: ‘The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. BUT THANKS BE TO GOD, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

If you want to have eternal hope, then it can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. AND I MAKE NO APOLOGIES FOR SAYING THIS. Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life, NO ONE comes to the father

except through me.’ In their preaching in Jerusalem after the healing of the lame man the disciples made this clear; Acts 4:12 ‘And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’

The moon and stars they wept

The morning sun was dead

The Saviour of the world was fallen

His body on the cross

His blood poured out for us

The weight of every curse upon Him

One final breath He gave

As heaven looked away

The son of God was laid in darkness

A battle in the grave

The war on death was waged

The power of hell forever broken

The ground began to shake

The stone was rolled away

His perfect love could not be overcome

Now death where is your sting?

Our resurrected King

Has rendered you defeated

Forever He is glorified

Forever He is lifted high

Forever He is risen

He is alive, He is alive!

Kari Jobe CCLI 788682

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Devotions

Daily Devotion April 13th

MONDAY 13th

1 Corinthians 15:1-34

Yesterday I mentioned my favourite verses, today we are turning to my favourite chapter. For the next two days I am drawing from some thoughts that I had already prepared and have used previously taking 1 Corinthians 15 as the basis.

Paul commences this chapter by giving the believers a gentle reminder concerning the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verses 1-2

He says:

I remind you of the gospel I preached

I remind you of the gospel which you received

I remind you of the gospel in which you stand

I remind you of the gospel by which you are saved

But then he adds a caveat: That is, you are saved if you hold fast, or remain faithful to that which you have believed.

This chapter is full of wonderful truth concerning salvation, resurrection and eternal hope.

There are four ways in which we will look at this chapter, two points today and two points tomorrow.

1.The Importance of the gospel (verses 3 – 4)

2.The Incredible power of the resurrection (verses 20 – 23)

3.The Imperishable future of the believer (verses 35, 42 – 54)

4.The Incomparable hope of the Christian faith (verses 55 – 58)

1.The Importance of the gospel.

(3-4) ‘For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.’

The three days which Paul summarises here in a nutshell are the three most important days that have ever been in the whole of the history of the world. As I mentioned in an earlier devotion, (Friday 10th) in that period of 72 hours the greatest transaction that has ever taken place took place. The Lord Jesus Christ as he hung on the cross, took upon himself the sin of all mankind, he took upon himself the wrath of God and the punishment for that sin as if it were his own and in exchange he gives to all who will believe and trust in him his own righteousness. (2 Corinthians 5:22)

Because of this, the most importance decision that every one of us will make in our lifetime – however long that may be – will be the decision we make concerning what happened in those three important days. Will we either choose to trust and accept Jesus because of all that he has done for us in his redemptive work, or we will reject him.

(As you read this devotion, can you say that you know without a shadow of doubt that you have accepted Jesus as your own personal Saviour? If you can’t, how about making today the day you choose to accept and follow him.)

This gospel, this message is the most important message that the world needs to hear and we who already know Jesus need to look for opportunity to share it to a lost and dying world.

2.The Incredible power of the resurrection verses 20 – 23

This is such an amazing topic, it needs more than just a few minutes, but sufficient for me to say that  because Christ rose from the dead, he is the guarantee that all who believe in him will also be raised to eternal life. In John 11 when we read of the account where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, prior to it happening, Jesus said this to Martha: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. WHOEVER believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

and EVERYONE who lives and believes in me shall never die.’ He then challenged Martha with a question: ‘DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?’ What about you as you are reading this devotion – DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?

Jesus own resurrection proved that he has power over death and therefore he has the right to grant eternal life to all who believe. (John 17:1-3 ‘When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.’)

I love the certainty of verse 20, ‘But in fact Christ HAS been raised from the dead’ it re-echo’s the message of the angel outside the tomb, ‘He is risen,’ and then the next statement in verse 20 that says that the resurrected Jesus is ‘the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep’. This means more resurrections will follow. These verses are so essential to our faith, for if there is no resurrection, then there is no eternal life! Paul continues, ‘For as by a man (Adam) came death, by a man (Jesus) has come also the resurrection of the dead. For, as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.’ (vv21-22)

We will continue this theme tomorrow.

I cast my mind to Calvary

Where Jesus bled and died for me

I see His wounds, His hands, His feet

My Savior on that cursed tree

His body bound and drenched in tears

They laid Him down in Joseph’s tomb

The entrance sealed by heavy stone

Messiah still and all alone

O praise the name of the Lord our God

O praise His name forever more

For endless days we will sing Your praise

Oh Lord, oh Lord our God

Then on the third at break of dawn

The Son of heaven rose again

O trampled death where is your sting?

The angels roar for Christ the King

He shall return in robes of white

The blazing Son shall pierce the night

And I will rise among the saints

My gaze transfixed on Jesus’ face

O praise the name of the Lord our God

O praise His name forever more

For endless days we will sing Your praise

Oh Lord, oh Lord our God

Oh Lord, oh Lord our God

Songwriters: Dean Ussher, Marty Sampson, Benjamin Hastings © CAPITOL CHRISTIAN MUSIC GROUP CCLI788682