Amazing Grace Glowing Throughout History

Amazing Grace Lyrics

John Newton (1725-1807)
Stanza 6 anon.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

Two different  renditions of the same song, but there is such power in them, power we often tend to forget. Something God has really brought home for me today is the power in His forgiveness He gives unto us freely.

A book I read recently, Unmerited Favor by Joseph Prince, really helps shed a bright light upon the amazing simplicity of His grace.  He freely forgives us, past, present, future. Done. It's hard to grasp within a world where you are told you have to earn everything. A friend who is now reading the book reminded me of this today, something I needed.

But this Christ earned.

The book I'm currently reading is On the Eve of Adam by Dr. J.R.Church, quite an amazing book so far.  There is so many interesting concepts within the pages of just the first four chapters that I cannot fully describe all of them, but some that apply for this that have spoken within me are these:

Excerpt from Chapter 2:

Since Adam is a prophetic figure of Jesus Christ, Eve, his bride, must be a type of New Testament Christianity--the bride of Christ. Adam gave life to Eve. In like manner, Christ gave eternal life to us. As Eve was taken from the side of Adam, New Testament Christianity has been taken from the riven side of Christ:

"But He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5)

According to the Scriptures, Eve was deceived in the fall, yet Adam was not. Adam was willing to take her sin upon himself. The sin of Eve was accounted to Adam. He was willing to become identified with her sin. In like manner, Jesus took our sin upon Himself, that He might become our substitute, and suffer our consequences.

 Chapter 4 goes into the life of Joseph from the Old Testament and compares it to the life of Christ.  Something I had never considered. There are far too many similarities to bring them all to light here (you'll have to read the book) here are some facts:

• The story of Joseph starts in Genesis chapter 30, the ministry of Christ starts at age 30.
• The 30th chapter of Genesis is represented by the Hebrew alphabet letter chet referring to "a new beginning" representing the First Advent of Christ.
• Both Joseph & Christ had miracle births 
• "And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son" (Genesis 30:22-24)
• Rachel's (Joseph's mom) name, meaning "ewe lamb" lends to the view that Joseph was born as a lamb. In like manner Christ is the "lamb of God".
• Joseph was the beloved son, as Christ is God's beloved Son
• Joseph was sold for 20 pieces of silver and Christ was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.
• Joseph was stripped of his coat of many colors, was thrown into a pit to die but came out alive, later having his coat dipped in blood and presented to his father.
  
  Christ was stripped of His clothes (John 19:23-24) and in a similar manner, Christ was placed in a tomb--a place of death--but was resurrected! And when Christ returns, He will be wearing His vesture dipped in blood:
• "And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood" (Revelation 19:13)
• Joseph became a servant to Potiphar, as Christ took upon Himself the form of a servant
  
  The comparisons continue but the one I want to focus on is at the end:
• Joseph kept Benjamin and pressed his brothers to confess their guilt concerning him and express love for their father (Genesis 44:27-31). Once they confessed their sin, he then reveals himself to them and freely forgives them (Genesis 45:1-9). Joseph and his brothers are an allegory of God's great program for the nation of Israel.
  
  After Jacob's death [their father], they were fearful that Joseph would seek revenge. However, their fears were groundless.
  
  And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive" (Genesis 50:19-20)
  Excerpt from Chapter 4:
  It is hard for some people to accept the fact that God freely forgives, but He does. Salvation has no strings attached. We are forgiven because of the blood of Christ, who died once and for all. We need not fear falling from God's grace. Joseph is clear about his forgiveness to the brothers and thus, presents a prophetic message to us about the love of Christ. There is no greater picture of Christ to be found in the pages of the Old Testament.
  
  
  

 Now rereading the lyrics of the song Amazing Grace...re listening to the words of the song Grace Like Rain...the words have a whole new meaning. The amazing love of our God, it's liberating, it's freeing, and it's something we have ALWAYS had, we have NOW, and we will FOREVER keep.  Amen.

Hand in Hand

I have found grace in God's sight, He knows me by name and He has given me a double portion of His blessing for the future plans He has for me. He shall show me His way for my life as we walk through it together.

Then Moses said to the LORD, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way...”   
  So the LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.

Exodus 33: 12-13,17 NKJV

And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?”
Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”   
So he said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.” Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.   
And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.

2 Kings 2:9-13 NKJV



Cleansing Your Temple Through Christ

*Originally written on January 12th, 2011*

With this time of the year comes diets, diet pills, weight loss surgeries, healthy eating shows, 'magical' weightless clothing, reattempted new year's resolutions, crazy-packed gyms, & probably the highest profit scales make all year...its a constant reminder to me of a mindset I have to battle with, feeling like I'm a fat tub of lard of a failure and need to go crazy on cutting out everything unhealthy I eat and redesign my eating habits, eat less, workout more, push myself harder and try to achieve more and make myself actually feel proud of myself for once.  But God is gracious enough to remind me every time that there is no amount of my mental 'law' I can achieve, I can accomplish that will bring true joy. It's only through Christ, His sacrifice and grace, His unmerited favor upon my life that gives me anything, any joy or peace.  So let's refocus this health craze into proper perspective...lets go biblical!

Abraham: lived before the law was ever made & was the man God made a covenant with.  He gave Him health and the world, & that was before the law was ever even established!  This alone should show us that there is no power in the law with taking care of yourself. 

Joseph Prince mentioned that there are only 2 people in the bible that Jesus Christ calls having strong faith:  the Centurion and the Canaanite women.  Now what do these 2 people have in common?  That they are both gentiles and were never taught about the law!  All they knew was Jesus and His power and glory, no law telling them how they failed and what they didn’t achieve…This is the kind of faith we need to have!  Faith that Christ can do all and that through Him, so can we as long as it is in His will!

Next some bible verses!

Jesus Cleanses the Temple 

Matthew 21:

12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God^[f] and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’^[g] but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”^[h]
14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?”
And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read,

      ‘ Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
      You have perfected praise’?”^[i]

I would also like John's perspective on this:

John 2:

13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten^[a] Me up.”^[b]
18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”
19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”
21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them;^[c] and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

Paul said:

 1 Corinthians 3:

9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
16" Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." Glorify God in Body and Spirit. 

1 Corinthians 6:

12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.
15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.”^[b] 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body^[c] and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Ephesians 2:

14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Christ Our Cornerstone

  
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. 

I think its clear that we are indeed the temple of God.  When Christ died for our sins, tearing down the old temple and He was resurrected and brought up a new temple within each of us, within our hearts.  How we care for our temple is obviously important!  Christ is living within YOU!  His clensing blood, His redemptive blood that brings grace and washes us flows continuously through us once we accept Him into our hearts!  That is quite an important job, that is a very important reason to take care of your temple, if there even is a better one. And not because its by YOUR power or YOUR ability or awesomeness or law or whatever, for nothing is done by you, but by Christ within you!  He is the reason to and the way to!

An important way to look at taking care of your temple is to see how Christ cleaned up the earthly temple. In Matthew it reports Christ comparing the temple to a den of thieves, that's powerful.  How do you steal from your temple?  What are you buying and selling within your temple?  Instead of giving a true sacrifice of yourself to God, what is it that is taking the place, what selfish and perhaps unhealthy habit are you giving into?  And this does not remain within the physical boundaries, what selfish habits or things do you have that you know you should stop that you keep putting before God?  That's taking place before Him...it could even be some sort of religious act, remember the doves were for sacrifices! 

What did Christ say the temple was supposed to be…a house of prayer!  This just shows even more how it’s not by our own strength but God's that we can truly care for our temple in the way He intended!  It first and foremost is about our communication, love, affection, and relationship with God our Heavenly Father-which we do though Jesus Christ, His son and His sacrifice that allows us to be called sons and heirs!
Right after all that, Jesus began to heal those who needed it...this shows me that once you get your temple in proper order, then and only then will you see miracles and healings. Then you will have true health and wealth. First comes cleansing and then comes healing and miracles but you limit Christ by the condition of your temple.

After that, we shall sing praises to Christ and our Heavenly Father for all His mercy, grace, & love and this will bring the last of the trio: happiness. For true happiness comes when you stop looking at yourself, your limits, and what you can and cannot do and begin to keep your eyes on the prize, on the light, on the Son of God Jesus Christ and the Father Almighty!  Then His amazing overpowering joy will come over you!

One part that John brings up also is that this was during Passover.  Passover is a time of remembrance of the story of Exodus...and the creation of the law. Christ was showing that none of their sacrifices were good enough for their sins, and their heart behind them, the most important aspect, was also totally wrong!  It took His death upon the cross to completely 'cleanse' the temple, and tear the veil of separation between God and man so that He could afterwards always have a connection to keep the temple clean!  Jesus will do all the work!  Through His awesome glory and power, through His amazing love I cannot begin to fathom, He not only cleans our temple and makes a way for us to reach the Father and be called His son, AND He'll help to keep the temple clean! 

The Son of God became the Son of Man and died for all our sins and transgressions, our sicknesses, our pains, our dirt...so that we can change from being just a son of man into a son of God and spend eternity with the Father and Him!  Now that's love!

So how do we keep our temple clean?  Not by our works but by His work! Does this mean I can do whatever in the heck I want and Christ will just act like a maid and clean it all up?  Not so much people. Christ still expected them to try and keep the temple clean, keep their hearts in the right place.  And when Christ lives in your heart, He’ll guide you and keep your heart in the right place if you truly listen to Him through prayer, meditation, and a relationship with Him.

Paul mentions that how we build our temple, what it’s made of, is very important so that when we are tested we can withstand.  This applies spiritually and physically. We need to be strong in all 3 of ourselves, Physical body, Soul (emotions and mind) body, and Spirit body.  When we are tested by fire, when the world throws things at you, what we are made of will show! Remember we represent Him!  He also mentions while he can do all things, that doesn't mean he should do all things. Yes, there is a difference. He then names food and sexual sins, physical sins!  And then reminds us that we are not our own and were bought at a price, and that price was the cross!  Let’s make sure we are worth the purchase! 

Through Christ we have a peace between the law and grace, He achieves the law which we could not for us, and brings peace between us and the Father! And we are all in this together!  We are all, as Christians, the temple of God-singularly and collectively-and we should help lift each other up! We are His body!  Be a blessing to one another and inspire one another to keep taking care of themselves, reminding each other of who we are, of our identity in Christ and strengthen each other...With Christ and as a team we can achieve a true health and happiness!

*Comments from old blog:

Yet again thank you biblegateway.com! (me)

Becca, this is really good! I really needed to read this It is always a good reminder of how important it is to take care of our bodies God’s way rather than “our” way, and how we don’t need to live by the law. I wonder when I’ll ever truly get that through my head! Love you

Chelsi

http://runningdisciple.blogspot.com/

 

Thanks! It was all Him because I needed it myself lol! Glad it could help somebody besides myself (^-^) (Me again)

 

Wildflower, by Elena Wrevhn

*Originally written on December 29th, 2010*

my sister wrote this poem for me and it has meant so much to me that I wanted to re-post it on this blog...I'm starting an art project my psychologist suggested, to make a joy collage.  The first two things that came to mind was this poem and GIR.  I don't think I could ever find words to express how much this poem has meant to me, that she, anybody really but especially my sister, would think of me that way, would be inspired to write something like this to me.  I think it was her first poem about someone-to someone.

Wildflower
By Elena Wright Wrevhn
She is no rose,
With vicious thorns,
Nor common daisy,
Far to quaint,
They call her wildflower,
They call her beauty,
They call her heaven-sent,
I call her angel,
She is a lady,
With silken petals,
Her blossom dreams,
In every color,
They call her wildflower,
They call her beauty,
They call her heaven-sent,
I call her friend,
She is so sweet,
With whispering perfume,
That forever kisses,
Your fondest memory,
They call her wildflower,
They call her beauty,
They call her heaven-sent,
I call her sister,
She is of strength,
With soil so pure,
And roots so deep,
She cannot be moved,
They call her wildflower,
They call her beauty,
They call her heaven-sent,
I call her Rebecca

This fits with what Joyce Myers just preached on this morning, identity theft.  She preached on Ephesians Chapter 1

Redemption in Christ

  
³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, ⁵ having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace ⁸ which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, ⁹ having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, ¹⁰ that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both^[a] which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. ¹¹ In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, ¹² that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
¹³ In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴ who^[b] is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

This also goes along with the book I've started by Joseph Prince, Unmerited Favor. The first chapter he mentions Joseph and how:

"God's definition of success is contrary to the world's definition...From Genesis 39:2, it is clear that success is not what you have, but rather who you have! Joseph literally had nothing materially, but at the same time, he had everything because the Lord was with him...We need to learn to stop pursuing things and start pursuing Him. God sees your relationship with Him as the only thing that you need for every success in your life."

Genesis 39:1-2

^"1Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. ² The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian."

Every morning and as I've ran on the trail recently with the Lord, He has brought to mind how everything about me, everything about life, within life, everything that has breath speaks of Him and His majesty and grace and redemption.  All that I do, all that I am becomes and shows more and more of Him rather than me as I grow closer to him. Every powered stride I take on my runs, every mile I manage to go with Him, by Him, through Him, every quilt I make, every loop I crochet, every stroke I paint, every tree and piece of nature, and every piece of me that finds joy within nature. He lives within my heart and His cleansing blood is constantly washing over me.  His light shines from me, His joy radiates out of me.  All that I am, truly am, is really Him.  That is what makes me and all that I am so amazing, is its not me!  Its what gives me a true confidence.  The love that Christ has for me is truly amazing and I cannot wait to learn more and gain a deeper true understanding of His amazing grace that saved a retch like me!