Listen to YouTube: ‘All praise to him lyrics’
Use these lyrics to thank God for his love and care:
Praise my soul, the King of heaven to His feet thy tributes bring;
ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, who like thee His praise should sing?
Praise Him! Praise the everlasting King.
Father-like he tends and feeds us; well our feeble- frame he knows;
in his hands he gently bears us, rescues us from all our foes
Praise Him! Widely as His mercy flows.
(H. F. Lyte 1793-1847)
Disappointment – what other words or phrases do you associate with this word?
Perhaps disappointment is what you felt as you read that though the Government are allowing churches to open it is only for personal, individual prayer and so we, along with many other churches aren’t opening our premises.
There are only a few events recorded in the gospels where people have to deal with disappointment, but perhaps one you can easily relate to, is when two sisters are disappointed that Jesus hadn’t responded as quickly as they expected him to. Their cry for help initially seemed to go unanswered, and now it seemed as though Jesus’ presence to too late and isn’t going to change the pain and anguish they are feeling. Read: John 11: 17-37
When was the last time you felt that Jesus hadn’t answered responded to your requests quickly enough? The sisters eventually discover that so long as we keep trusting Jesus, even when we can’t understand his timing and his actions or lack of them – he will never disappoint us. If you don’t know how Jesus’ visit to the village of Bethany ends, read John 11: 38-44
Perhaps you can recall an occasion when you were looking forward to going to an outdoor event, and when you arrived there were far more people present than you expected and you were disappointed that you couldn’t see very clearly what was happening. Imagine the disappointment of these five friends as they encountered the scene described in Mark 2: 1-2.
When feeling disappointed, as well as continuing to trust Jesus, there are times when we can do something to show our continuing faith that he wants to help us. These five friends had to think of a different way to getting close to Jesus because the usual way of meeting with him was not an option - read Mark 2: 3-12.
We also have felt disappointed because one of our usual ways of encountering Jesus, meeting together as church, had not been possible, so we too have had to find new ways of getting close to Jesus. Perhaps like Karen shared with us on Friday, you have found that lock-down has caused you to grow closer to Jesus through an enforced change in priorities, or perhaps you are still struggling to find that closeness without the Sunday fellowship of other people.
Once the paralysed man does get close to Jesus, perhaps his initial delight turned if not to disappointment, certainly to confusion. Jesus doesn’t address the man’s physical needs, but instead tells him that his sins are forgiven. Perhaps we can recall coming to Jesus only to find that he doesn’t appear to be answering the need which brought us to him, but instead highlights something which we don’t connect with the difficulties we are experiencing. If we continue to trust Jesus, we will find, like the paralysed man, that Jesus knows best, his wisdom like the rest of God, is perfect.
Our two bible readings remind us that when we feel disappointed we should persist in trusting in who we know God to be – our Father in Heaven, who loves us and cares about us. We should keep trusting that God wants the best for us, even when we don’t understand his actions – or his lack of action, and sometimes we need to rethink how we can come close to him and hear what he wants to say to us.
Some people find the repetition of a phrase draws them into God’s presence, the repeating of the same words causes them to explore the full meaning of the declaration. Try a different approach to prayer: YouTube: ‘Bless The Lord Taize lyrics’
These well-known lyrics may help you to pray about your desire to trust God more:
I am trusting Thee, Lord, Jesus, trusting only Thee;
Trusting Thee for full salvation, great and free.
I am trusting Thee to guide me; thou alone shalt lead;
Every day and hour supplying all my need.
I am trusting Thee for power, thine can never fail;
Words which Thou Thyself shalt give me must prevail.
I am trusting Thee, Lord Jesus; never let me fall;
I am trusting Thee forever, and for all.
(Frances Ridley Havergal 1836-79)
On Sunday (21st) at 5pm you may want to join me on ‘zoom’ for 40 minutes of fellowship. I have, belatedly realised that it is ‘Father’s Day’ and some of you may have arranged family events which will make joining us difficult - don’t stress about it, we will ‘zoom’ again the following Sunday. On Saturday the leader who has been contacting you will pass on an email giving you the link to join in this Sunday’s event. It isn’t a service, neither is it me preaching, but an opportunity for each of us to share with everyone else a verse of scripture or song lyrics which has helped us during lock-down. If someone shares the same words you were going to share, I still want you to share them, because if God is blessing lots of us with the same words we need to note this and see how it can help all of us as church to more effectively glorify God.
I am trusting that God will give us a ‘Guest Writer’ by Friday, and I will write again on Sunday - Stephen