"The Awakened Sinner"

O My Forgetful Soul,
Awake from thy wandering dream;
    turn from chasing vanities,
    look inward, forward, upward,
    view thyself,
    reflect upon thyself,
        who and what thou art, why here,
        what thou must soon be.
Thou art a creature of God,
    formed and furnished by him,
    lodged in a body like a shepherd in his tent;
    Dost thou not desire to know God’s ways?

O God,
Thou injured, neglected, provoked Benefactor
    when I think upon thy greatness and thy goodness
        I am ashamed at my insensibility,
        I blush to lift up my face,
        for I have foolishly erred.
Shall I go on neglecting thee,
    when every one of thy rational creatures should love thee,
    and take every care to please thee?
I confess that thou hast not been in all my thoughts,
            that the knowledge of thyself as the end of my being has been strangely overlooked,
            that I have never seriously considered my heart-need.
But although my mind is perplexed and divided, my nature perverse,
    yet my secret dispositions still desire thee.
Let me not delay to come to thee;
Break the fatal enchantments that binds my evil affections,
    and bring me to a happy mind that rests in thee,
    for thou has made me and canst not forget me.
Let thy Spirit teach me the vital lessons of Christ,
    for I am slow to learn;
And hear thou my broken cries.


-Puritan prayer, The Valley of Vision

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Pain

(a very timely encouragement at this hour)

"Pain" by Da Truth

Right now I hear
But I wanna see
I need you to show me
You bottle my tears
Pain is the key
To making me Holy

Dark clouds in the sky turn into rain
I know you wanna cry from the hurt and pain
It's hard to see God in the eye of the hurricane
And so you wanna turn away from this chapter in your life wanna turn the page
It's the hard knock life and the earth's decaying
Trying hard not to murmur and complain
It's easier said than than done with those hunger pangs
You can't even buy your son Burger King
Just got laid off so currently
Trying to make ends meet and that's a further strain
I know you're stressed out gotta learn to pray
So God can give you peace for the burdens laid
Down at his feet where the servants lay
He loves you, so don't turn away
You in the fire, but won't burn in the flame

I know it's cold in the winter months
And I know that that trial you in the middle of
Man I know it might feel like a little much
I know it might feel like a little much
And though deliverance is slow like the little bus
Don't faint stand firm no givin' up
Understand that, God won't give you more than you can bear
Your trials are just little cubs
Big Him, big plan, man little us
I know the season in your life is a little rough
I know you're drinking up strife from the bitter cup
God is painting a picture of
Himself, so it's gotta be beautiful
He's gotta use bright colors and muted tones
Gotta use life's comforts and funerals
I know it hurts, but it helps you to grow

Praise God that the Father is forming us
Shaping, making, and conforming us
So at times our pain is to grow us up
Other times my pain is for someone else
Cause death in me is life in you
That's what we see when He died for you
'Cause one man's pain is another's pleasure
Just as one man's trash is another's treasure
'Cause sometimes God will cause the pain
He'll create the fire and the rain
I hear you praying Lord take it all away
But if He won't it's because He knows what it takes
To produce fruit and make his people whole
He knows when pressure is applied to coal
A beautiful diamond is the goal
You're in the fire but you're coming out as pure gold

[See I think it's important for us to have a big picture
Perspective on pain. A lot of times, we see pain as a bad
Thing; trials, suffering, you see it as a bad thing. But when
We look in the scriptures, we see that God prescribes pain.
He doesn't just allow it he causes it sometimes; read
Deuteronomy chapter 8. But it's so necessary, because in it
He conforms us into the image and the likeness of His Son.
So I just wanna encourage the people of God, please understand
That God is using your pain for His own glory.]

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The Way You Love Me

If my heart could sing at this moment...


"It is the hurt that breaks me. It is the pain that pulls me to my knees. And the tears, they’ve changed me to what I couldn’t see, become so clear to me. This is the way, the way that you love me."

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God is Glorious in Life & Death

Food for thought.
Meal for meditation. 

http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/to-god-be-the-glory-in-life-and-in-death

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