Lord, I seek Your counsel, Your word to guide me in all my ways.
Teach me what You would have me know. Establish my feet firmly in Your word.
Let Your streams of living water flow in me. Make me a tree producing good fruit. Lord, help me to prosper in all that I do. Let all that I do be to Your glory.
Throughout all my days I will delight in Your word.
“Songs in the Morning” Sandra Bivens Smith. Copyright ©️ 2023
Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified,
Knowing not it was for me He died
On Calvary.
(Refrain)
By God’s Word at last my sin I learned;
Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned,
Till my guilty soul imploring turned
To Calvary.
(Refrain)
Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus ev’rything,
Now I gladly own Him as my King,
Now my raptured soul can only sing
Of Calvary.
(Refrain)
Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!
Oh, the grace that bro’t it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary.
(Refrain)
Refrain:
Mercy there was great, and grace was free;
Pardon there was multiplied to me;
There my burdened soul found liberty
At Calvary.
William Newell (1868-1956) was born in Savannah, OH. He earned degrees from Wooster College, Princeton and Oberlin Theological Seminary. He served as Assistant Superintendent of the Moody Bible Institute, Chicago. The words for his hymn “At Calvary” came to him on his way to teach a class at the Bible Institute. He slipped into an empty classroom and wrote them quickly on the back of an envelope.
Good morning.
Yes, I know I’m late. Today’s “time out” is a little different. While looking for something I had recorded in my journal a while back, I came across an entry I feel compelled to share. I’m going to give it to you exactly as it was originally written so I hope you will bear with me and excuse any syntax errors you may find. It is my prayer that you will be encouraged.
October 5, 2021
I begin this day with hopeful expectations of better days ahead _ for myself (health) and for our nation.
Over the past weeks the Lord has given me much to reflect upon. He has laid for me, as it were, some “stones of remembrance”. Memories of what has come before and of His eternal, unfailing promises. A reminder of His “new every morning” mercies, of His “never more remember” forgiveness. He reminded me that He will never leave or forsake His children and that nothing on, above, or below the earth can snatch them from His hand.
Lord, You called for Peter to get out of the boat and walk to You. Not just over the water, but over the great waves that were stirred by a raging storm. I don’t think I have felt the full power of that miracle until this moment. By Your power and through his faith, Peter walked on the water. You called him to step into the stormy deep with the promise that You would not permit him to be overtaken by the storm. And so it was – Until he took his eyes off You, the creator of the storm, and looked instead at the angry waves.
His faith failed him, or did he fail his faith? But, Your promise did not. You reached out and lifted him up and took him to the safety of the boat.
Lord, I am so weak.
Thank You for Your word that teaches me Your truth and shows me Your way.
Jesus, help me to walk every day in Your righteousness. So many times I stumble and fall. But, You are the God of my salvation and so I can know that when I fall, You will pick me up and redirect my steps. How my heart is humbled when I think of it!
It’s a new day. Your word has brought new joy, new blessings, new hope for the day ahead. Morning has risen and brought new mercies from Your hand; great is Your faithfulness.
Lord, I am weak but You are strong, I wait for You to show me the way.
Lord, You have shown Your power and glory from generation to generation.
With the rising of the sun, and its setting; the coming in of the ocean’s tide, and its going out. All of life testifies to Your majesty! And yet, men deny You.
Emmanuel, God with us. You became a man. You lived and died and rose from death, destroying forever its power. And yet, men reject You.
In times of distress, men call on Your name. And yet, they doubt You. How long Lord will You strive with us? How long?
Lord, Most High. One day all men will declare that You are The One True God!
Lord, let these words of the Psalmist be my daily cry.
Burden my heart with the weight of my sin; bring me to repentance.
We look around at the sins of the world and we cry out against them. But Lord, what if we would look into our own hearts, seek forgiveness for our own sins? What if each of us who professes Your name would deal first with our own sin? Surely it would change our world.
Let that be me. Search my heart day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. Before I cast even one stone, make me look inside my own heart.
Lord, cleanse me from all unrighteousness for Your namesake.
“Songs in the Morning” Sandra Bivens Smith. Copyright ©️ 2023
LORD, You are great and worthy of all praise.
You are worthy to receive but I am not worthy to give. And so I turn to Jesus who makes intercession for me. The One who goes before me to make a way. The One whose righteousness I can claim as my own. Jesus, by whose blood I am made worthy.
O how great to be called a child of God. How wondrous a thing to know my sin has been erased, wiped out, never to be recalled.
“Thank You Jesus” is so inadequate for such an unimaginable, undeserved, incalculable, invaluable gift of love.
Lord, how great You are and worthy of all praise.
“Songs in the Morning” Sandra Bivens Smith. Copyright ©️ 2023
Lord, how comforting to know that You are on Your throne.
Your eyes are always looking upon the hearts of men. You know our thoughts before we form them, our words before we speak them, our deeds before we do them.
Father, You are watching and You are guarding. When we are near to danger, Your Spirit warns us. When we are tempted, You show us the way out. When we fall, You rescue us.
Lord, thank You for watching over me. You are seated on Your throne and I am safe.
“Songs in the Morning” Sandra Bivens Smith. Copyright ©️ 2023.
Sing the wondrous love of Jesus;
Sing His mercy and His grace;
In the mansions bright and blessed,
He’ll prepare for us a place.
(Refrain)
While we walk the pilgrim pathway,
Clouds will overspread the sky;
But when trav’ling days are over,
Not a shadow, not a sigh.
(Refrain)
Let us then be true and faithful,
Trusting, serving ev’ry day;
Just one glimpse of Him in glory
Will the toils of life repay.
(Refrain)
Onward to the prize before us!
Soon His beauty we’ll behold;
Soon the pearly gates will open;
We shall tread the streets of gold.
(Refrain)
Refrain:
When we all get to heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
We’ll sing and shout the victory!
Eliza Edmunds Hewitt, June 28, 1851—April 24, 1920 also known as Eliza Jane Hewitt, was an American hymn writer, teacher and Presbyterian. She was the author of numerous Christian religious songs. In the beginning, she was active in Olivet Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Later she joined the Calvin Presbyterian Church, where she taught the primary class in Sunday school until her death.
Miss Hewitt’s hymns are the result of inspiration, the origin of which, to her, is often mysterious; she has never cared to keep a record, but their number is known to have passed into the thousands. The hymn, “Sunshine In My Soul,” was given wings, and circled the globe, coming back to its author with many beautiful stories of its use. The same is true of other of her hymns. Among the most popular have been, “Sunshine In My Soul,” “Will There Be Any Stars?” “Stepping in the Light,” “Not One Forgotten,” “More About Jesus,” “The Very Same Jesus.”
Jesus is likened here to “a living stone.” He is solid and reliable, like a rock. Yet, a rock is lifeless, insensitive, unresponsive. Jesus is a “living stone.” He is alive, tender, lovingly responsive. The Lord wants to build us up to be like Him (solid and stable, yet loving and caring). The Lord’s way to build us up “as living stones” is to call us to an ongoing process of coming to Himself: “Coming to Him as to a living stone… you also, as living stones, are being built up.” In order to practically grow “as living stones,” we must be coming to the one who already is innately what He wants us to become. He alone can provide what is needed in our lives.
When we get into the word of God, we are not merely looking for more biblical information. Jesus is the one we are to be seeking.
How do we come to Jesus in this manner? Well, again, it is a matter of relating to Him. When we get into the word of God, we are not merely looking for more biblical information. Jesus is the one we are to be seeking. When we are praying, we are not merely “saying our prayers.” Jesus is the one in whose name we are praying and whose will and work we are seeking. When we are worshiping, we are not merely singing songs, we are singing to the Lord Himself. When we are going forth in ministry, we are not merely carrying out a valid task. We are looking to the Lord for enablement, while desiring to please and honor Him.
Excerpt from “Day by Day Grace” devotional by Bob Hoekstra
Sandra Bivens Smith 