Today’s hymn is from Charles Wesley and is centred around delighting in God’s word. I pray that these words can be you the words of your heart as you choose to delight in God’s truth this year. Enjoy!
When quiet in my house I sit, Thy book be my companion still; My joy Thy sayings to repeat, Talk o’er the records of Thy will, And search the oracles divine, Till every heart-felt word be mine.
O may the gracious words divine Subject of all my converse be; So will the Lord his follower join, And walk and talk himself with me. So shall my heart his presence prove, And burn with everlasting love.
Oft as I lay me down to rest, O may the reconciling word Sweetly compose my weary breast; While on the bosom of my Lord I sink in blissful dreams away, And visions of eternal day.
Rising to sing my Saviour’s praise, Thee may I publish all day long; And let thy precious word of grace Flow from my heart, and fill my tongue; Fill all my life with purest love, And join me to the Church above.
Today’s hymn comes from William John Sparrow-Simpson. Ordained in 1882, he held various appointments until 1904, when he became Chaplain to St. Mary’s Hospital, Great Ilford. He contributed “All for Jesus—all for Jesus” (All for Jesus), and “Jesus, the Crucified, prays for me” (Passiontide), to C. W. A. Brooke’s Additional Hymns, 1901)1. As we head into the new year, may our eyes be fixed forever on the cross of Jesus. Enjoy!
Cross of Jesus, cross of sorrow, where the blood of Christ was shed, perfect Man on thee did suffer, perfect God on thee has bled!
Here the King of all the ages, throned in light ere worlds could be, robed in mortal flesh is dying, crucified by sin for me.
O mysterious condescending! O abandonment sublime! Very God Himself is bearing all the sufferings of time!
Cross of Jesus, cross of sorrow, where the blood of Christ was shed, perfect Man on thee did suffer, perfect God on thee has bled!
Today’s hymn comes from Anne Steele (1717-1778), the pioneer female hymn-writer of the eighteenth century. I’m sure these words will comfort you today; enjoy!
When sins and fear, prevailing, rise, And fainting hope almost expires, To thee, O Lord, I lift my eyes; To thee I breathe my soul’s desires.
Art thou not mine, my living Lord? And can my hope, my comfort die? ‘Tis fixed on thine almighty word That word which built the earth and sky.
If my immortal Saviour lives, Then my immortal life is sure; His word a firm foundation gives; Here may I build and rest secure.
Here, O my soul, thy trust repose; If Jesus is for ever mine, Not death itself that last of foes Shall break a union so divine.
Today’s hymn is from John Logan (1748-1788), a minister in Scotland who also was a historian. This hymn is clearly inspired by 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 about those who have died in the Lord. I hope it can give you some encouragement hope today. Enjoy!
Take comfort, Christians, when your friends in Jesus fall asleep; their better being never ends; why then dejected weep?
Why inconsolable, as those to whom no hope is giv’n? Death is the messenger of peace, and calls the soul to heav’n.
As Jesus dy’d, and rose again victorious from the dead; so his disciples rise, and reign with their triumphant Head.
The time draws nigh, when from the clouds Christ shall with shouts descend, and the last trumpet’s awful voice the heavens and earth shall rend.
Then they who live shall changed be, and they who sleep shall wake; the graves shall yield their ancient charge, and earth’s foundations shake.
The saints of God, from death set free, with joy shall mount on high; the heav’nly hosts with praises loud shall meet them in the sky,
Together to their Father’s house with joyful hearts they go; and dwell for ever with the Lord, beyond the reach of woe.
A few short years of evil past, we reach the happy shore, where death-divided friends at last shall meet, to part no more.
Today’s hymn is another one from Gregory Wilbur, who makes excellent songs for the church to sing. This text is from Psalm 125 and taken from the 1912 Psalter used in Reformed Churches in America. Enjoy!
All who, with heart confiding, depend on God alone, like Zion’s mount abiding, shall not be overthrown. Like Zion’s city, bounded by guarding mountains broad, his people are surrounded forever by their God.
No scepter of oppression shall hold unbroken sway, lest unto base transgression the righteous turn away. Your favor be imparted to godly people, Lord; bless all that are pure-hearted, the good with good reward.
All those who evil cherish, forsaking truth and right, with wicked ones shall perish; God will their sin requite. From sin your saints defending, their joy, O Lord, increase, with mercy never-ending and everlasting peace.
Today’s hymn is another hymn from Horatius Bonar that was too good for me not to share. It was originally included in his Hymns of Faith and Hope (1861) in ten stanzas. Enjoy mediating on this hymn today!
O love of God, how strong and true, eternal and yet ever new, uncomprehended and unbought, beyond all knowledge and all thought! O love of God, how deep and great, far deeper than man’s deepest hate; self-fed, self-kindled like the light, changeless, eternal, infinite.
O heav’nly love, how precious still, in days of weariness and ill, in nights of pain and helplessness, to heal, to comfort, and to bless! O wide-embracing, wondrous love! We read you in the sky above, we read you in the earth below, in seas that swell and streams that flow.
We read you best in him who came bearing for us the cross of shame; sent by the Father from on high, our life to live, our death to die. We read your pow’r to bless and save, e’en in the darkness of the grave; still more in resurrection light we read the fullness of your might.
O love of God, our shield and stay through all the perils of our way! Eternal love, in you we rest, forever safe, forever blest. We will exalt you, God and King, and we will ever praise your name; we will extol you ev’ry day, and evermore your praise proclaim.
Today’s hymn is written by Horatius Bonar, a Scottish minister in the 19th Century. I hope this can be your testimony too today, that you have a mind at perfect peace with God; enjoy!
A mind at perfect peace with God, Oh! what a word is this! A sinner reconciled thro’ blood; This, this indeed is peace!
By nature and by practice far, How very far from God; Yet now by grace bro’t nigh to Him, Thro’ faith in Jesus’ blood.
So near, so very near to God, I cannot nearer be; For in the person of His Son I am as near as He.
So dear, so very dear to God, More dear I cannot be; The love wherewith He loves the Son; Such is His love to me!
Why should I ever careful be, Since such a God is mine? He watches o’er me night and day, And tells me “Mine is thine.”t
Today’s hymn is a Christmas hymn written by German Johann Rist (1607-1667), and inspired by Isaiah 9:2-7 and Luke 2. wrote a twelve-stanza hymn on the incarnation of Christ. It was later translated by John Troutbeck. I hope you all have a blessed Christmas, meditating on the coming of our Saviour!
Break forth, O beauteous heav’nly light, and usher in the morning. O shepherds, shrink not with affright, but hear the angel’s warning: this child, now weak in infancy, our confidence and joy shall be, the pow’r of Satan breaking, our peace eternal making.
Break forth, O beauteous heav’nly light, to herald our salvation. He stoops to earth, the God of might, our hope and expectation. He comes in human flesh to dwell, our God with us, Immanuel, the night of darkness ending, our fallen race befriending.
Today’s song is by Sovereign Grace and is based on the Valley of Vision prayer by Arthur Bennett, found in the collection of Puritan prayers by the same name. The truths of this song are truths that eventually all of us as Christians will experience. And although it may be painful to live through, it’s necessary in order that we may become more and more like our Saviour, to the praise of God’s glory. Enjoy!
When You lead me to the valley of vision I can see You in the heights And though my humbling wouldn’t be my decision It’s here Your glory shines so bright So let me learn that the cross precedes the crown To be low is to be high That the valley’s where You make me more like Christ
Let me find Your grace in the valley Let me find Your life in my death Let me find Your joy in my sorrow Your wealth in my need That You’re near with every breath In the valley
In the daytime there are stars in the heavens But they only shine at night And the deeper that I go into darkness The more I see their radiant light So let me learn that my losses are my gain To be broken is to heal That the valley’s where Your power is revealed
Hymn of the Day 