‘Tis I, Be Not Afraid

June 13, 2020 — Craig T. Owens
Tossed with rough winds, and faint with fear, 
Above the tempest, soft and clear, 
What still small accents greet mine ear?
“‘Tis I; be not afraid.” 


“‘Tis I who led thy steps aright; 


‘Tis I who gave thy blind eyes sight; 


‘Tis I, thy Lord, thy Life, thy Light. 


‘Tis I; be not afraid.




“This bitter cup fear not to drink; 


I know it well—oh! do not shrink; 


I tasted it o’er Kedron’s brink. 


‘Tis I; be not afraid. 




“Mine eyes are watching by thy bed, 


Mine arms are underneath thy head, 


My blessing is around thee shed. 


‘Tis I; be not afraid.“




When on the other side thy feet 


Shall rest ‘mid thousands welcomes sweet, 


One well known voice thy heart shall greet. 


“‘Tis I; be not afraid.” 




From out the dazzling majesty 


Gently He’ll lay His hands on thee, 


Whispering: “Beloved, lov’st thou Me? 


It was not in vain I died for thee,


‘Tis I; be not afraid.” —Anonymous








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Poetry Saturday—Beyond The Glittering, Starry Skies

April 18, 2020 — Craig T. Owens 




Beyond the glittering starry skies,


Far as th’ eternal hills,


There, in those boundless worlds of light,


Our great Redeemer dwells.




Legions of angels strong and fair,


In countless armies shine,


At His right hand with golden harps,


To offer songs divine.




“Hail, Prince!” they cry, “forever hail!
Whose unexampled love
Moved Thee to quit those glorious realms,
And royalties above.”




While He did condescend on earth


To suffer rude disdain,


They cast their honors at His feet,


And waited in His train.




Through all His travels here below


They did His steps attend!


Oft gazed and wondered where at last


This scene of love would end.




They saw His heart transfixed with wounds,


His crimson sweat and gore,


They saw Him break the bars of death,


Which none e’er brake before.




They brought His chariot from above,


To bear Him to His throne,


Clapped their triumphant wings and cried,


“The glorious work is done!” —James Fanch








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Thursdays With Spurgeon—The Assurance In Christ’s Ascension

April 9, 2020 — Craig T. Owens 




This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Charles Spurgeon. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Spurgeon” in the search box to read more entries.


The Assurance In Christ’s Ascension


     Our Savior descended when He came to the manger of Bethlehem, and further descended when He became ‘a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief’ (Isaiah 53:3). He descended lower still when He was obedient to death, even the death of the Cross—and further yet when His dead body was laid in the grave. … Long and dark was the descent. There were no depths of humiliation, temptation, or affliction that He did not fathom. …  


     The time came for our Lord to continue His homeward, upward journey and return to the glory from which He had come down. From the Mount of Olives, ‘while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight’ (Acts 1:9). The rest of His upward progress we cannot describe. Imagination and faith step in and conceive of Him as rising beyond all regions known to us, far above all imaginable height. … 


     How high He ascended after He passed the pearly portal Paul cannot tell us, save that he says God ‘seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion’ (Ephesians 1:20-21). He describes our Master as ‘dwelling in unapproachable light’ (1 Timothy 6:16). The Man Christ Jesus has gone back to the place from where His Godhead came! …


     We are sure that the purpose of His love is secure or He would not have returned to His rest. The love that brought Him here would have kept Him here if all things necessary for our salvation had not been finished. …


     Remember that His assent to the Father is representative. Every believer rose with Him and grasped the inheritance. When He rose up, ascending on high, He taught our feet the way. At the last His people will be caught up together with the Lord in the air, and so will they be forever with the Lord. He has made a stairway for His saints to climb to their bliss, and He has traveled it Himself to assure us that the new and living way is available for us. In His ascension He bore all His people with Him.


From Our Lord’s Triumphant Ascension


Jesus told His Father that He had completed everything He was sent to complete (John 17:4). John also says that Christ’s “It is finished” cry from the Cross also marked the completion of everything that had been prophesied about Jesus (John 19:28-30). 


Such amazing love brought Jesus to earth! And His steadfast love also made sure that He left absolutely nothing undone that was needed for our salvation! 


There’s now no reason for us to live fearful or anxious or skeptical about what is coming next. When Jesus says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” and when He promises that He has gone to prepare a place for us to bring us to be with Him, He has demonstrated His authority to make these claims in His death, resurrection, and ascension. 


Oh my friends, live every day in that glorious assurance!


 






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Thursdays With Spurgeon—The Greatest Treasure Ever!

January 23, 2020 — Craig T. Owens 




This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Charles Spurgeon. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Spurgeon” in the search box to read more entries.


The Greatest Treasure Ever!


     Oh! Christian, do but consider what it is to have God to be your own! Consider what it is, compared with anything else.


Jacob’s portion is the Lord;


What can Jacob more require?


What can heaven more afford—


Or a creature more desire?






     Some have their portion in the city. Their wealth is superabundant and in constant streams it flows to them, until they become a very reservoir of gold. But what is gold compared with your God? You could not live on it; your spiritual life could not be sustained by it. Apply it to your aching head, and would it afford you any ease? 


     Put it on a troubled conscience, and could your gold allay its pangs? Put it on your desponding heart and see if it could stay a solitary groan or give you one grief the less. But you have God, and in Him you have more than gold or riches ever could buy, more than heaps of brilliant ore could ever purchase for you. … 


     There are griefs here with which men cannot intermeddle, and there are griefs to come with which men cannot interfere to alleviate the pangs, pains, agonies, and dying strife. But when you have this: “I will be your God” [Jeremiah 31:33]—you have as much as other men can have put together. … 


     O Christian, ask for nothing in this world but that you may live on this and that you may die on this: “I will be your God.” This exceeds all the world has to offer. …


     Oh! Here is a very sea of bliss, a very ocean of delight! Come, bathe your spirit in it. You may swim to eternity and never find a shore. You may dive to the very infinite and never find the bottom. “I will be your God.” Oh! If this does not make your eyes sparkle, if this makes not your foot dance for joy and your heart beat high with bliss, then assuredly your soul is not in a healthy state.




From God In The Covenant 




I agree with Spurgeon: “If this does not make your eyes sparkle, if this makes not your foot dance for joy and your heart beat high with bliss, then assuredly your soul is not in a healthy state.” 


If you want your soul to be in this healthy state, it is possible for you to know assuredly that God is saying to you, “I will be your God.” Jesus died in your place to pay the penalty for your sin. If you believe that, you may ask God to forgive all your sins—completely cancel that record of wrongdoing—and He will! Then His Spirit will take up residence in your heart and you can know the unspeakable bliss of the truth of what God says: “I am your God”! 






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Humbug?!

December 2, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




In Longfellow’s classic I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day every stanza ends with the phrase “peace on earth, goodwill to men.” Unless you’ve been living someplace that doesn’t get the daily news, you might be saying, “Peace on earth? Really? I just don’t see it….” Or as Ebenezer Scrooge might say, “Peace on earth? Bah! Humbug!” 


A humbug is an imposter, or something empty of meaning. 


The third stanza of I Heard The Bells seems almost to slide into that Christmas humbug note: “And in despair I bowed my head: ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said. ‘For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, goodwill to men.’” 


Indeed, even for those who call themselves a Christian, Christmas could become a humbug if…


    

  • … it’s all about busyness or just trying to “survive the holidays” 
    • 

  • … we get more excited about Santa Claus coming down the chimney to fill stockings than we do about Jesus coming down to Earth to be born in a manger 
    • 

  • … our main focus is on gifts—both what you’re giving and what you’re getting—and then we regret putting ourselves into debt 
    • 



Between Malachi (the last book of the Old Testament) and Matthew (the first book of the New Testament) is a time span of about 400 years that is called “the dark period.” God had promised through Jeremiah that He would restore the Israelites and rebuild Jerusalem. There were promises of the Messiah coming to set things right, but after 400 years of darkness, the mindset of most Israelites was probably, “Messiah? Peace? Bah! Humbug!!” 


What God really promised through Jeremiah was a peace that came about as a result of two things: (1) forgiveness of sins and (2) restoration of a perfect relationship with God. The Hebrew word for “peace” is shalom, which means one’s personal sense of wholeness and well-being, free from anxiety and fear, knowing that all is well between my soul and God. 


This is what God promises—I will cleanse them from ALL the sin they have committed against Me and will forgive ALL their sins of rebellion against Me (Jeremiah 33:8). 


This shalom is what comes through the First Advent of Jesus! As Longfellow observed, “Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: God is not dead nor doth He sleep; the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, goodwill to men.” 


And this is what Jesus brought—


    

  • She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21 NIV). 
    • 

  • Now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to Him through the blood of Christ. For Christ Himself has brought peace to us… (Ephesians 2:13-14 NLT) 
    • 

  • Therefore, since we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with God) through faith, let us grasp the fact that we have…peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) (Romans 5:1 AMP). 
    • 



The bells and carols and remembrances of Christ’s First Advent should send our hearts soaring in anticipation of Christ’s Second Advent—when Christ shall return to take all of His own to be with Him forever, where He will wipe away every tear and where we live forever with Him in the New Jerusalem (see Jeremiah 33:9; John 14:3; Revelation 21:1-4). 


Let us guard against Christmas ever becoming a humbug—an imposter, something empty of meaning—but let’s make sure the rich meaning of Christ’s peace dwells richly in us! 




Join us this Sunday as we continue our look at the carols of Christmas! 






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Poetry Saturday—Come, Thou Fount

November 16, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace; 


streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise. 


Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above. 


Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, mount of Thy redeeming love. 




Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I’m come; 


and I hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. 


Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God; 


He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood. 




O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be! 


Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee. 


Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;


here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above. —Robert Robinson








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Poetry Saturday—Come, Ye That Love The Lord

November 2, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




Come, ye that love the Lord,


  And let your joys be known;


Join in a song with sweet accord


  While we surround the throne.




The sorrow of the mind


  Be banish’d from the place; 


Religion never was design’d


  To make our pleasures less.




Let those refuse to sing


  Who never knew our God;


But servants of the heavenly King


  May speak their joys abroad.




The God that rules on high,


  That all the earth surveys,


That rides upon the stormy sky,


  And calms the roaring seas:




This awful God of ours,


  Our Father and our Love;


He will send down His heavenly powers


  To carry us above. 




There shall we see His face,


  And never, never sin;


There from the rivers of His grace


  Drink endless pleasures in.




Yes! and before we rise


  To that immortal state,


The thoughts of such amazing bliss


  Should constant joys create.




The men of grace have found


  Glory begun below;


Celestial fruits on earthly ground


  From faith and hope may grow.




The hill of Zion yields


  A thousand sacred sweets,


Before we reach the heavenly fields,


  Or walk the golden streets.




Then let our songs abound,


  And every tear be dry;


We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground


  To fairer worlds on high. —Isaac Watts






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Thursdays With Spurgeon—Our Secure Future Hope

October 17, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Charles Spurgeon. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Spurgeon” in the search box to read more entries.


Our Secure Future Hope


     First, Christ is all. Next Christ is in all His people, but the consummation, the top-stone of all, is that God may be all in all [1 Corinthians 15:22-28]. … 


     The fact is, our Lord Jesus Christ has performed and is still performing a work that will end in putting everything into its proper order. …


     Christ is come into the world that all of the evil that is in the world should be subdued. And He will drive it out of the world. There will remain no power that will dare revolt against the Majesty of Heaven! Over the whole surface of this globe, beneath the new heavens and on the new earth, there will yet be the kingdom established all of which Jesus Christ will be the Supreme Head and over which He will reign forever, King of kings and Lord of lords! The Lord hasten it in His own time! … 


     I don’t know whether you catch my thought yet, but it is just this: all evil subdued, all the saints having Christ dwelling in them, Christ the head of all these saints, and then God, still as God, all the more surely and securely supreme over all things, or the head of Christ is God and God is all in all. … 


     I want to you, beloved friends, so to live as to be persuaded that it will be so one day, that God will be all in all—that there will come a time when we will stand before the throne of God, God in us all, and everything in us of God, when all His elect, all His redeemed, all to whom Christ is all, and all in whom Christ is, will only know God as their All-in-All!


From All And All In All


What a glorious future hope is secured for God’s saints! 


If we know what is coming, why would we fear today? If our hope is secure, that means our today is secure as well. That’s why David could confidently say: I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken (Psalm 16:8).






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Poetry Saturday—Hark! The Sound Of Jubilee

October 12, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




Hark! the song of jubilee,


Loud as mighty thunders roar,


Or the fullness of the sea,


When it breaks upon the shore:


“Hallelujah! for the Lord


God Omnipotent shall reign;


Hallelujah!” let the word


Echo round the earth and main.




Hallelujah! hark! the sound,


From the depths unto the skies.


Wakes above, beneath, around


All creation’s harmonies;


See Jehovah’s banner furled,


Sheathed His sword; He speaks; ‘tis done;


And the kingdoms of this world


Are the kingdoms of His Son.




He shall reign from pole to pole


With illimitable sway;


He shall reign when, like a scroll,


Yonder heavens have passed away.


Then the end; beneath His rod


Man’s last enemy shall fall:


Hallelujah! Christ in God,


God in Christ is All in All. —James Montgomery








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Gone From My Sight

September 7, 2019 — Craig T. Owens 




   I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. I stand and watch her until at length she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.


   Then someone at my side says, “There, she is gone!”


   “Gone where?”


   Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side, and she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.


   Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says, “There, she is gone,” there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “Here she comes!” —Henry Van Dyke






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