Sabbath Sanctuary: Jesus, Lover Of My Soul

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him {1 John 3:1 NASB}.

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him {1 John 3:1 NASB}.

Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly, while the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high; hide me, O my Savior, hide, till the storm of life is past; safe into the haven guide, O receive my soul at last! 

Other refuge have I none; hangs my helpless soul on thee; leave, ah! leave me not alone, still support and comfort me. All my trust on thee is stayed, all my help from thee I bring; cover my defenseless head with the shadow of thy wing. 

Plenteous grace with thee is found, grace to cover all my sin; let the healing streams abound;
make and keep me pure within. Thou of life the fountain art; freely let me take of thee; spring thou up within my heart, rise to all eternity. 

Charles Wesley, 1707-1788

Charles Wesley, was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, perhaps, the greatest hymn-writer of all ages. Charles Wesley was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley, and was born at Epworth Rectory, Dec. 18, 1707. In 1716 he went to Westminster School, staying with his elder brother Samuel, then usher at the school, until 1721, when he was elected King's Scholar, and as such received his board and education free. In 1726 Charles Wesley was elected to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1729, and became a college tutor. In the early part of the same year his religious impressions were much deepened, and he became one of the first band of “Oxford Methodists.” He wrote this hymn in 1740.

Sabbath Sanctuary: O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing

O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing (18 Original Stanzas)

This hymn was written by Charles Wesley in 1739 to commemorate his conversion on May 21, 1738. It was first published in the Wesleys' collection Hymns and Sacred Poems of 1740 under the title, For the Anniversary Day of One's Conversion.

As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen {Lk. 19:37 NASB}.

Glory to God, and praise and love be ever, ever given, by saints below and saints above, the church in earth and heaven.

On this glad day the glorious Sun of Righteousness arose; on my benighted soul he shone and filled it with repose.

Sudden expired the legal strife, ‘twas then I ceased to grieve; my second, real, living life I then began to live.

Then with my heart I first believed, believed with faith divine, power with the Holy Ghost received to call the Savior mine.

I felt my Lord’s atoning blood close to my soul applied; me, me he loved, the Son of God, for me, for me He died!

I found and owned His promise true, ascertained of my part, my pardon passed in heaven I knew when written on my heart.

O for a thousand tongues to sing my dear Redeemer’s praise! The glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of His grace.

My gracious Master and my God assist me to proclaim, to spread through all the earth abroad
the honors of thy Name. 

Jesus! the Name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease; ‘tis music in the sinner’s ears, ‘tis life, and health, and peace!

He breaks the power of canceled sin, He sets the prisoner free; His blood can make the foulest clean; His blood availed for me.

He speaks, and listening to His voice new life the dead receive; the mournful, broken hearts rejoice, the humble poor believe.

Hear Him, ye deaf, His praise, ye dumb, your loosened tongues employ; ye blind, behold your Savior come, and leap, ye lame, for joy.

Look unto Him, ye nations, own your God, ye fallen race! Look, and be saved through faith alone, be justified by grace!

See all your sins on Jesus laid; the Lamb of God was slain, His soul was once an offering made for every soul of man.

Harlots and publicans and thieves, in holy triumph join! Saved is the sinner that believes from crimes as great as mine.

Murderers and all ye hellish crew, ye sons of lust and pride, believe the Savior died for you; for me the Savior died.

Awake from guilty nature’s sleep, and Christ shall give you light; cast all your sins into the deep and wash the Ethiop white.

With me, your chief, you then shall know, shall feel your sins forgiven; anticipate your heaven below and own that love is heaven.

Charles Wesley {1739}

Sabbath Sanctuary: Resting In His Grace

Fall has officially arrived here in Colorado. Fall is one of my favorite seasons, but I do not readily welcome the winter which follows—which appeared today in 22-degree weather and snowfall. I have written about the tension between me and winter for the last couple of years and it seems to reflect where I am spiritually as well. If I am honest, I feel as though I have been stuck in winter for several years, regardless of what season the calendar reads and no matter how hot the sun blazes. I am in winter. I am tired and weary and long for a change of season in my walk with my Savior.

This season has been particularly hard. Many times, it is all I can do to awake from my slumber to face the challenges of the day. The Lord has been so good to me this week as He gently reminded me of His grace.

We know grace to be that attribute that is part of the manifold of God’s love. God deals with us not on our merit or worthiness, or on what we deserve—our lives consistently displaying our fallenness. He deals with us on the basis of His goodness and generosity. God’s grace supplies us with undeserved favor—grace is a precious, beautiful gift. We cannot earn it and we do not deserve it.

Grace, however, goes beyond undeserved favor. The New Testament book of Luke describes Jesus as having “the grace of God upon Him” {Luke 2:40} and as “growing in grace with God and man” {Luke 2:52}. Many more references to grace are found in the Book of Acts. The good Doctor Luke makes a strong association between grace and power. Grace is often linked with the power of God to create spiritual life and to sustain Christians. Grace, in the New Testament, “God’s unmerited favor,” has a new aspect added to mean power in the Spirit.[1] In many of Paul’s writings; {Rom. 1:5; 12:6; 15:15; I Cor. 3:10; Gal. 2:9; Eph. 2:2,7} it means the power and equipment for ministry.[2] Grace is the power to do what you cannot do for yourself.

I have worked so hard at trying to make things change and happen in my own strength—which explains my weariness. Working in our own strength will drain us and deplete us of any life. We must rest in Him and allow Him to do the work for us. This does mean that we become complacent waiting for Him to do something, we must abide in His presence through the Word and prayer and allow Him to fill us with His grace; remembering always to cultivate a heart of worship. Through His grace this week I have been able to face the challenges and the hard times knowing that He is my strength and is working everything according to His purpose.

Rest in His grace this sabbath weekend. He is waiting to fill you with grace to empower you to run the race. Oh, and when you rest in Him, He will refresh you to overflowing and bring you to a place of rest from the storm. 

When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings {Psalm 84:6}.

Read all about Grace in the 11th edition of SHINE Magazine and you can order one here 

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[1] Walter A. Elwell ed., Baker Theological Dictionary of the Bible, s.v. “grace,” (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996), 314.

[2] W.E. Vine, ed., Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old And New Testament Words, s.v. “grace,” (Nashville: Thomas Nelson), 500.

Sabbath Rest: Bringing God's Presence to Earth

Originally posted 2.22.12

Sabbath rest; I don’t think God will let me leave this for some time—probably because I need it the most. My days are full of lists, and busyness, and chores, and studying, and taking care of people. I constantly feel the need to rest.  The pulling and the stress have me feeling like Bilbo Baggins; I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread. That can't be right. I need a change, or something.[1]

I would like to go somewhere alone and sleep for a week. While more sleep is desirable, that is not the rest that God is whispering into my spirit.

In Luke 13 we find Jesus healing on the Sabbath, for which the religious leaders persecuted Him. Jesus was fulfilling the purpose of the Sabbath by ministering to the sick. Jesus, our blessed Savior, healed a woman—dried up a fountain of blood that crippled her for eighteen years. He was astonished that the religious leaders could justify leading their donkey to drink on the Sabbath, yet are outraged that a daughter of Abraham, bound by Satan for eighteen years, deserved less attention than their donkey, and should stay sick because of the Sabbath. (see Luke 13:16).

The compassion of Christ is demonstrated in vivid colors: When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.  He called her. Why? Because Jesus knew she would not come to Him on the Sabbath, and He wanted to dispel permanently, the pharisaical attitude of the day that withheld the presence of God from His people.

What is the point of having a Sabbath law explicitly for human need, if it turned into a reason for neglecting or postponing human need?[2]

What does Jesus healing on the Sabbath have to do with finding rest? When we are going through a hard season, which I am, and I know I am not alone, it is so easy to be immersed in our troubles and trials, and turn a blind eye to the needs of others. The religious leaders who chastised Jesus were guilty of the same. They were only concerned with appearing holy to the people—the needs of the people simply were dust in the wind.

Life can get tumultuous and trying, and though many of our circumstances are self-inflicted, we can experience circumstances that are out of our control. We wake up one day asking, how did I get here? How did this happen?The lyrics to Wild Horses by Natasha Bedingfield speak so poetically to how I feel:

I feel these 4 walls closing in
My face up against the glass
I'm looking out... hmm
Is this my life I'm wondering
It happened so fast
How do I turn this thing around
Is this the bed I chose to make
Its greener pastures I'm thinking about hmm

It’s so easy to be caught up in self-pity and discontent with life—but we must not allow that to take root in our hearts, or we will be lonely, bitter people; oblivious to the hurting people around us.  

Naomi Zacharias is an inspiring woman; she penned a wonderful book, The Scent of Water: Grace for Every King of Broken. She describes a time in her life that was very dark. The words she composed tore at my heart, as I had to admit I often feel as she described; her life was not the life she wanted.  The struggle she was going through—she did not sign-up for.

I heard an interview with her concerning the book. She explains that she launched Wellspring International, a branch of her father’s apologetics ministry, to reach out and help the hurting. Naomi found herself in many countries of the world helping organizations that were reaching out to women and children at risk. She found herself in remote parts of the earth as well as familiar ones.  She found so much joy and beauty in the midst of horrific circumstances. The women she met she describes as beautiful and hopeful in the midst of their tragic sufferings. She inspired me when she explained that going into the world to help others didn’t make her ugly situation disappear, however, helping others caused her to forget about her own pain.

Is that not a part of what Sabbath is about—isn’t that what Jesus did by seeking out those He knew would not have come to Him? Should we not be doing the same?

For six days God filled this planet with good things and living beings, but on the seventh He filled it with His presence. God’s presence is the source of the very blessings of life and happiness promised through the Sabbath. Separated from God’s presence, human life is but a fleeting shadow.[3]

God consecrated the Sabbath so that we would consecrate ourselves to Him, and spend time in His presence. Jesus wanted to bring back the presence of God by healing the sick in the temple on the Sabbath. We need to stretch out and help others, reach out to others and forget about ourselves, our pain, and take the healing touch of Jesus to a lost and hurting world. Let’s be people of His Presence.

Only those who stretch out their hands and offer water to the thirsty discover, disguised among them, Jesus. Only those who trudge up the mountain, willing to grow blistered and weary on the narrow trail, witness his transfiguration. Only those who invite the stranger in to share bread realize they’ve entertained angels unawares, sometimes even Christ himself.[4] 

How can I help someone? I don’t have the opportunity or the resources to travel to the ends of the earth like Naomi (though I wish I did). It is not about me. Jesus needs us to reach the world for Him. I can pray for the sick and for the hurting, and take the Good News of the Gospel to this fallen world, and make room for God’s Presence in the Earth.

I can’t tell you how to help someone, but I challenge each of us to partake of the rest that Sabbath offers, by asking God to open our eyes, to watch and pray, to show us who He needs us to touch today for His kingdom—to bring His presence back on the earth.

Don't forget to check out my book, A Life That Sings: Finding Your Song In The Midst of Brokenness

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[1]J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, (New York: Ballantine Books, 1966), 34.

[2]J.H. Wright, Knowing Jesus Through The Old Testament, (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 207.

[3]Samuele Bacchiocchi, Divine Rest for Human Restlessness, (Rome: Pontifical Gregorian University Press., 1990), 86.

[4]Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2006), 49.

Just One Word

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end {Eccls. 3:11 NIV}.

Another new year is upon us. I am not sure why it surprises me, this Chronos change. Chronos is our chronological time and it often proves mundane and monotonous—especially when carrying a promise of a more vibrant time. Many times the New Year is frustrating for me as I reflect on the previous year; the list scribbled hastily and tucked neatly into my Bible; few of them accomplished. Too few. I have purposed this year not to have resolutions; a list to beg before the God of Glory; rather I want to have a year of purpose. 

Chronos betrays us, always. It devours the beauty it creates. But sometimes chronos betrays itself: it stirs in us a longing for Something Else—Something that the beauty of things in time evokes but cannot satisfy… we end up as the man in Ecclesiastes did: driven, driven, driven, racing hard against chronos, desperate to seize beauty but always gasping smoke, ashes, and thorns. Seeking purpose and finding none, only emptiness (Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God, p. 37).

New Year’s lists do that to me. I chase these “things” I think I want or need, only to end the year in frustration and disappointment. A couple of ministries I have come across speak to this very issue; instead of lists choose to prayerfully seek a word to guide your year. Though I have not joined their movements, I am intrigued by the idea. I have grown weary of lists, prayer requests, resolutions. I need something different. A minister gave the definition of insanity the other day: insanity is doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results. That is what New Years has become to me, this running on a treadmill chasing after those things I think I need. Change will not come doing the same thing over and over; I don’t want another trip around the same mountain.

This year I don’t have a list of things I want or need; I have a word. That word is a promise the Lord spoke into my life fourteen years ago. I have carried this promise; I have prayed, fasted, cried, drank, ate, slept—breathed this promise. Nothing consumes me like this promise. I imagine this is familiar to Sarah. She waited twenty-five years for her promise of a child. Rachel screamed in anguish to Isaac in the face of her bareness, Give me children, or I'll die! (see Gen. 30:1). Imagine being pregnant for fourteen years; that is how I feel. I am bloated, swollen, hungry, tired, and willing to do anything to give birth to this baby inside me. I have tried all that I know to bring this promise to pass. Give me this promise lest I die! I have uttered such anguish often. But as every pregnant woman knows, despite all the wives’ tales and gimmicks; spicy food, walking, bumpy car rides, and herbal teas, that baby will come only when its time. There is nothing left to do but rest.   

Rest. God dealt with me a couple years ago about rest, in fact, my blog used to be named Finding Rest In God. That’s my word for 2015. Sabbath, or further sabbatismos; a lifestyle of Sabbath rest and Sabbath observance. The Greek sabbatismos is an idea far beyond church on Sunday. It is an attitude, a heart condition. This is not a legalistic ritual, but prayerfully seeking a new perspective.   

Sabbath is both a day and an attitude to nurture such stillness. It is both time on a calendar and a disposition of the heart. It is a day we enter, but just as much a way we see. Sabbath imparts the rest of God—actual physical, mental, spiritual rest, but also the rest of God–the things of God’s nature and presence we miss in our busyness… A Sabbath heart is restful even in the midst of unrest and upheaval (pp.3-4).

It means that I believe God’s promise to me, even though all hell is breaking loose around me. It is changing my thinking; believing what God has promised regardless of my circumstances. 

God is more interested in changing my mindset and thinking than in changing my circumstances.

Sabbatismos is learning to rest in the promises of God. God’s promise for my life is not always easy to believe. Sometimes I question if I am going crazy; or I try to make things happen when they don’t come to pass as I envisioned.  We are all guilty of this. Like Abraham and Sarah, and many others before us, we laugh thinking things impossible. We attempt to bring things about in our own way. Yet the great cloud of witnesses that went before us, though they did doubt, laugh, and manipulate to see God’s promises come to pass, eventually made it into the Hebrews 11 famous Hall of Faith. How? The Bible says they did not waver in their faith. But we read their stories, we know they questioned God—laughed even, and attempted to usurp God’s power for the completion of their promises.


I believe the transition happened when they came to the end of themselves; realizing that only God can fulfill His promises. The stability in their faith came when they believed what God told them and entered into His rest; the rest of knowing God is performing His Word.

Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it” {Jer. 1:12 NASB}.

Circumstances may look overwhelming, storms toss your boat to and fro; causing you to cry out, Master don’t you care that we are perishing?! (see Mark 4:8). He does care, and when we rest in Him, we will not perish; we will find deliverance and rest for our souls. He may not always calm the storm, but He will calm us in the midst of the storm. Just keep your eyes on Him.

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee {Is. 26:3 KJV}.

Sabbatismos is also resting in God’s Word and hearing His voice in the midst of the storm. Elijah didn’t hear God’s voice in the whirlwind, earthquake, or fire. He heard the Spirit of God whisper into the depths of his spirit—the still small voice (see 1 Kings 19:11-13). From that day forth, Elijah knew the sound of God’s voice, then he heard Him despite the whirlwind, earthquake, and fires. The Apostle John, while in exile on Patmos, heard a familiar voice, though He appeared differently than when the beloved disciple rested on His chest…he recognized The Voice:

I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet {Rev. 1:9-10}.

The very sight of Him caused John to fall at His feet like a dead man (see Rev. 3:17), but John knew His voice. I want to hear and know God’s voice. I want Him to whisper truth into my spirit. I pray for Him to whisper in the dark things to be spoken in the light.

What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops {Matt. 10:27 NASB}.

Sabbatismos. It is time to stop striving and begin thriving. I want to stop striving with feelings of being left behind, or that I have missed my door somehow. God is in control, and this baby will be birthed—a promised long anticipated. God will not leave me or forsake me. I am simply in a holding pattern. He is preparing everything on the ground to ensure a safe landing.


This year I will rest in God’s promise. If He spoke it He will bring it to pass. I need only rest in Him, believe what He tells me and enter into His rest. If I rest in Him, He will interrupt my Chronos with His right, opportune moment; His ordained kairos, and I will witness the divine of what God has done from beginning to end.  

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