There Is A Higher Throne

I just wanted to share a beautiful and hope-filled song. I have loved it since the first time I heard it - it is all about heaven which I love to think about. One day we will be with Jesus!

My favourite part is the last verse where it says, 'And there we'll find our home... where we belong'. I sometimes catch myself thinking, 'I want to go home' when I AM at home! But one day I will finally get there.

"And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” 

Revelation 21:4

 Here are the words:

There is a higher throne 

 Than all this world has known, 

 Where faithful ones from ev'ry tongue 

Will one day come. 

 Before the Son we'll stand, 

 Made faultless through the Lamb;

 Believing hearts find promised grace— 

Salvation comes. 

 Hear heaven's voices sing; 

Their thund'rous anthem rings

 Through em'rald courts and sapphire skies. 

 Their praises rise. 

 All glory, wisdom, pow'r, 

 Strength, thanks, and honor are 

 To God our King, who reigns on high 

 Forevermore. 

 And there we'll find our home, 

 Our life before the throne; 

 We'll honor Him in perfect song 

 Where we belong. 

 He'll wipe each tear-stained eye 

 As thirst and hunger die. 

 The Lamb becomes our Shepherd King; 

 We'll reign with Him. 

 by Keith and Kristyn Getty

D.L. Moody on Studying the Bible

I have been skimming through my book called 'Pleasure and Profit in Bible Study'  by D. L. Moody who was a famous evangelist.

Along with recommending it as a great book, I thought it might be good to post a few quotes. It is the kind of book that gets me all fired up to go study the Bible, so maybe putting some of it on here will help you to get fired up too!

We need to feed ourselves

'What we need as Christians is to be able to feed ourselves. How many there are who sit helpless and listless, with open mouths, hungry for spiritual things, and the minister has to try and feed them, while the Bible is a feast prepared, into which they never venture!'

Read the Bible itself

'Read the Bible itself - do not spend all your time on commentaries and helps. If a man spent all his time reading up the chemical constituents of bread and milk, he would soon starve.'

Taking care of our soul

'We take good care of this body that we inhabit for a day, and then leave; we feed it three times a day, and we clothe it, and deck it, and by-and-by it is going into the grave to rot; but the inner man, that is to live on and on for ever, is lean and starved. "Man shall not live by bread alone; but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."'

Talking about the Bible

'I like to keep in the society of those who know more than I do; and I never lose a chance of getting all the good I can out of them. Study the Bible carefully and prayerfully; ask of others what this passage means, and what that passage means; and when you have become practically acquainted with the great truths it contains, you will have less to fear from the world, the flesh and the devil. You will not be disappointed in your Christian life.'

Four things necessary

'It has been said that there are four things necessary in studying the Bible: Admit, submit, commit, and transmit. First admit its truth; second submit to its teaching; third, commit it to memory; and fourth, transmit it. If the Christian life is a good thing for you, pass it on to someone else.'

After writing this, I went to link to the book on Amazon and found that the e-book is free. So you can download it for no charge at all here, and if you don't have a Kindle you can download the application for your PC here.

As a sidenote, if you have commented on my blog in the last six months, please forgive me for my lack of response or interaction. I have been so busy that I have barely had time to write anything, let alone respond to comments or visit other blogs! But I do read and appreciate all your comments :)

Linking up to Spiritual Sundays

Learning from Christ’s Suffering

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. Phil 3:10

 I often wonder how we really have fellowship in Christ’s sufferings. I know that we do – but when Paul says that he wants to know more of Christ, and of the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to his death… what does that look like in real life?

Well I think I got a bit closer this week. I was reading Psalm 22 and looking at how David is distressed and comforts himself, but when I studied it I realised that this is talking about Christ.

The whole Psalm is considered by most to be Jesus Christ crying out to God in His suffering on the cross, comforting Himself with truth, and then praising God after He is delivered. So we can learn more of Christ’s sufferings through reading this Psalm (you can read Matthew 27:35, 1 Peter 1:10-12 and Luke 24:25-27 if you are not sure that it is referring to Him).

We can identify with what He went through, and not only that but the process by which He fought distress and despair, which I think we can learn a lot from. Here are some of the thoughts He goes through in the Psalm.

1. We can be distressed about God (v1-2) 

We can wonder where God is and why He doesn’t help us. Jesus cried out:

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?

 Why are You so far from helping Me, 

And from the words of My groaning?

O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear;

 And in the night season, and am not silent.

 2. We can draw comfort from truth about God (v3-5)

 He comforted Himself by remembering God’s character – that He is holy. If we remember the character of God and who He is it can be so helpful because we know He is just, righteous and loving and would not forsake us.

But You are holy,

Enthroned in the praises of Israel. 

He remembers what God has done in the past, and how he delivered generations of Israelites before. We can do the same and remember how God has answered our prayers and helped other people.

Our fathers trusted in You; 

They trusted, and You delivered them.

They cried to You, and were delivered;

They trusted in You, and were not ashamed. 

3. We can be distressed about ourselves (v6-8) 

He says that He is nothing, despised and ridiculed. And that is often our worry, even when it isn’t true. With Jesus it WAS true!

But I am a worm, and no man; 

A reproach of men, and despised by the people.

All those who see Me ridicule Me;

 They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

“He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him;

 Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!”

 4. We can draw comfort from our relationship with God (v9-11) 

He reminds Himself that God made Him and has always been His God. We can do this too, and remember that we have a relationship with God and what it has been like in the past and that He made us and everything around us. Sometimes He doesn’t seem as near to us, but we can remember what it was like when we did feel His presence, and walk in faith that it will be like that again. Even if we don’t feel His presence we know He is still with us.

But You are He who took Me out of the womb;

 You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts. 

I was cast upon You from birth. 

From My mother’s womb You have been My God.

Be not far from Me, 

For trouble is near; 

For there is none to help. 

5. He prays for help and God answers (v12-21) 

Christ goes on to tell God what is happening. Sometimes when we are too upset to know what to pray it can be good just to tell God what is going on. He knows already, but it can help us to just pour it all out to Him.

Many bulls have surrounded Me;

 Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me.

They gape at Me with their mouths,

 Like a raging and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water, 

And all My bones are out of joint;

My heart is like wax;

 It has melted within Me.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd, 

And My tongue clings to My jaws; 

You have brought Me to the dust of death. 

For dogs have surrounded Me; 

The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.

 They pierced My hands and My feet; 

I can count all My bones. 

They look and stare at Me. 

They divide My garments among them,

 And for My clothing they cast lots. 

 He doesn’t stop there, but goes on to ask for help and deliverance, and then says how He is answered.

But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me;

 O My Strength, hasten to help Me! 

Deliver Me from the sword, 

My precious life from the power of the dog.

Save Me from the lion’s mouth 

And from the horns of the wild oxen! 

You have answered Me.

 6. He turns to praising God (v22-31) 

When God answers our prayers we often forget to thank Him and praise Him, but that should be our response! And that includes telling others of the wonderful things He has done for us.

 I think this Psalm is such a good example of how to deal with trials, doubts and temptations. We need to remind ourselves of truth about God and our relationship with Him to help us with this. And to know that Christ went through these things should be a great encouragement to us.

 Also to remember the hope we have in Christ – because of Him we can have victory over sin on this earth, and ultimately we will have victory over death when our souls are risen again and we become like Him in glory.

I will declare Your name to My brethren;

 In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. 

You who fear the Lord, praise Him! 

All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, 

And fear Him, all you offspring of Israel!

For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; 

Nor has He hidden His face from Him;

 But when He cried to Him, He heard.

 My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; 

I will pay My vows before those who fear Him. 

The poor shall eat and be satisfied;

 Those who seek Him will praise the Lord.

 Let your heart live forever!

All the ends of the world

 Shall remember and turn to the Lord, 

And all the families of the nations 

Shall worship before You.

For the kingdom is the Lord’s, 

And He rules over the nations.

All the prosperous of the earth 

Shall eat and worship;

All those who go down to the dust

 Shall bow before Him,

Even he who cannot keep himself alive.

A posterity shall serve Him. 

It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, 

They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, 

That He has done this.

Here is one of my favourite songs: 'Oh To See the Dawn' - a beautiful modern hymn about Christ suffering on the cross, and how His becoming sin for us meant that we could be forgiven.

Linking up to Women Living Well

Ambition and Bear Hugs!

We are at Creation Fest - a great FREE Christian Bible week and music festival. I have probably spent the most time in the kids tent, since my youngest can only go in there if I am with him, and my 5 year old daughter doesn't want to stay in there without me!

A lot of the time there are various kids goofing off at the back and not listening to the program. But there is one time in the day when EVERYONE joins in, and my son Caleb runs to get there. And that's when the Bear Hug Band is playing.

The Bear Hug Band is a group of young guys from a church in California who make up songs for kids and come over here to rock the kids tent every year at Creation Fest.

They are great - they give it all they've got, do funny voices, dance around crazily... My daughter's favourite CD to listen to is Bear Hug Band, and she will listen to it at night over, and over, and over, and over again!

The other day as I was watching them I was thinking they could easily get into the whole ambitious mentality of wanting to be like the big bands that are really famous, and gear their songs for adults instead of kids. Because the kids tent isn't really the 'cool' place to be.

But instead they are using their gifts (they are clearly very gifted with kids!) and doing what God has called them to do, slogging away all morning in the kids tent and then playing their music to kids in the afternoons.

And I think it's great that they are. My kids' favourite thing about Creation fest is the Bear Hug Band, and they have a great song about the armour of God which has made them remember it, as well as other great lyrics.

So I am glad that they didn't go after being famous, but instead had a heart to do what God called them and gifted them to do. And those kids are our future adults, so they are impacting the next generation of believers, which is so important!

I think we need to follow their example and do our best with what God has given us, and not seek to be well known, or rise to the top of our field. But rather we should do what He has called us to do, regardless of whether anyone takes any notice or not.