Daily Verse

Holy Holy Holy

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

In our contemporary worship music, we often focus on Jesus being loving (which He is!) and that there is joy in being filled with the Holy Spirit (Thank God!) that is a part of our worship, but in all the clamor, we rarely pause to recognize the Holiness of the God we serve. The song Holy Holy Holy, written by missionary Bishop Reginald Heber, was not widely known during his lifetime, but his wife collected this and various other hymns which he had composed and found a publisher for them the year after his death. The testimony of this young and dedicated follower of Jesus, whose life goals had nothing to do with fame or popularity are a challenge for us today. The first three words and often repeated throughout the hymn are “Holy – Holy – Holy.” These words are found in the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments, and they remind us that we serve a perfectly Holy God who exists in Three Persons. As I was listening to the words again today, I realized that God’s triune nature is also reflected in the final words of verse three: “Perfect in power, in love and purity.” As I thought on that line I could see how they reflect the awesome wonder of God’s holiness. First our Father, “Perfect in power,” the creator of the Heavens and the Earth who holds all things together in the universe simply by the power of His word. Then a second Holy for the Son, who came to us in the manger of Bethlehem and left us after suffering for our sins on the Cross of Calvary, He is certainly Perfect in love. Last of all, the Holy Spirit, who fill convicts of sin, disciplines, guides, comforts and helps, all in His perfect purity. Together as we sing through the stanzas of this hymn, we begin to get just a glimpse of what the angels see as they continually worship before the throne day and night for ever and ever and ever!

Do I Surrender All?

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment 
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Romans 12:1 NLT

I love the way that one of my friends opens in prayer at our men’s meeting, saying, “Thank you God for another day that was never promised.” I love it because it reminds me that as I begin my day it is a gift that God has freely given. Whether I am sick or well, able to pay the bills or looking at an overdraft message from the bank, the hours that lie ahead are evidence of God’s grace. I love that prayer because it reminds me of the Hymn, “I Surrender All,”. Full surrender, or as today’s verse says, giving our bodies as a living sacrifice, is the perfect response to God’s grace. It tells us that rather than using our day however we please, an “I surrender all” attitude, is the only way to truly worship God, But to be honest, there are days when I couldn’t sing words like, “worldly pleasures all forsaken,” or, “I will ever love and TRUST Him.” because I like to reserve something for myself. Instead of trusting the hand of God, I rush around trying to do things on my own. Or I decide that there are a few worldly pleasures that I deserve and when the Holy Spirit convicts me by speaking in His still small voice, I turn down the volume and plow ahead with my own plans. But God in His great mercy and faithfulness has a way of getting our attention when we stray. Just like sheep who wander far from home and get tangled up in thorns or stuck at the bottom of a pit, we discover that our way was not so great after all and that maybe God was right. What a blessing that when we have fallen, we have a Good Shepherd. Though He has been seeking us all along, He has had to wait for us to stop our struggling, and surrender to His will, Then He begins to untangle us from the mess we made. In surrender we make the amazing discovery that once we give up our demand to be large and in charge, Jesus begins His work of restoration and healing. His plans and calling are far better than anything we could think or imagine, but He awaits our surrender to Him, as He surrendered Himself for us.

I love the fact that Billy Graham called this hymn one of his favorites, because during the time when he attended what today is called, Trinity Bible College, not far from where we live, Judson De Venter, who wrote the hymn, often preached at the school. The full surrender that God had planned for Billy Graham, continues to impact the lives of millions of people around the globe. We will probably never gain a worldwide reputation as Billy Graham did, but when we release our grip on our desires, our homes and even our finances, God will begin to use them in ways far beyond anything we could imagine, as a blessing in the lives of others and then lead us into a deeper walk with Him.

All to Jesus I surrender
All to him I freely give
I will ever love and trust him,
In his presence daily live
I surrender all - I surrender all
All to thee, my blessed Savior - I surrender all
Judson Van De Venter 1896