The holiest place there could ever be
All you can do is bow
Before the One who made heaven and earth
Before the Almighty God
For Him alone

Sing with the angels
Sing with the angels
Singing the Name of the Lord
Singing the Name of the Lord

For every soul He gave it all
Given for all of mankind
Eternal life is His alone
Given to all who believe
In Him alone, In Him alone

Jesus

I’m a sap; it made me cry!

Sing with the Angels is a post from: As In a Mirror

“Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13)

For good measure, I decided to throw in “Your Name High” from the This is Our God CD.

And the old hymn, “Softly and Tenderly” sung by Alan Jackson. Very pretty.

There, y’all got your music dose for the day.

Lord of Lords is a post from: As In a Mirror

Often we think to ourselves, “What is real joy, anyway?” Whatever it is, we sure wish we had it! According to Galatians 5:22, joy is a fruit of the Spirit, along with love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These fruits are essential to the believer; they are the evidence of Christ within him. So the question arises, just what is this joy, and how do we know that we are possessing it?

The literal Greek word for joy used often in the New Testament means a “calm delight; exceeding gladness.” It is interesting to note how Jesus, in the parable of the sower, refers to those who were compared to the stony ground: “… when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.” (Luke 8:13). So, we see that our faith must be founded on something stronger than the initial joy we receive. We must receive “the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” (Luke 8:15).

Therefore, though joy is not the root or basis of our faith, it is a fruit, an after-effect. Because whoever strives to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12), the Scriptures repeatedly exhort us to have joy in tribulation. Nehemiah 8:10 says, “the joy of the Lord is your strength,” that is, “the joy of the Lord is your defense.” We are constantly instructed to rejoice, to offer up thanksgiving to God. For us who know the greatness of God and the wonder of His love, this is the natural response. The joy that results no one can ever take away from us, no matter the circumstance (John 16:22, Romans 8:38-39). We cling to this joy in hope of the glory to come; we also receive instruction and correction with joy (Romans 5:2, Hebrews 12:3-10). Psalm 16:11 says, “In Your presence is fullness of joy,” and John 15:4 tells us to abide, that is to stay, in Christ. We can thus conclude that we are to always be in His presence, in His Spirit. We also see that our joy, the flower of our faith, is to be a constant thing, not transient like happiness or cheer.

Joy– it is what drives us, motivates us, satisfies us. Joy is the ambition that prevails over despair, the hope that endures hardship, and the result of fulfilled anticipation.

For more Word for Wednesdays, visit Yeah Right…

Word for Wednesday: Joy is a post from: As In a Mirror

MAF Video: Borneo is a post from: As In a Mirror

Brother Yun, born to a farming family in 1958, was born again with his whole family when Jesus healed his father of a deadly illness. When Yun cried out to the Lord for a Bible, the Lord provided one for him and told him to preach from it. When he was 16 years old, he recited the book of Matthew to a crowd and saw a whole village turn to Jesus. As he grew up, Yun continued to preach the gospel despite the fact that it was an illegal practice. He became a wanted man because of his refusal to cooperate with the government-run Three-Self Patriotic Church. The secret police of the Communist government tried to hunt him down constantly, and Yun relates many instances when the Lord delivered him from their hands, and others when he was delivered into their hands. Arrested by the Chinese police on three different occasions, Yun became very associated with persecution and suffering, both physically and spiritually. Though he was brutally beaten and mocked by the guards and fellow prisoners, Yun says the hardest thing for him was to see the horrid poverty his family endured during his imprisonment. Nonetheless, God used Yun’s times in jail to bring many desperate souls to Him. Yun even pretended to be a masseur, though he was really laying his hands on sick people to pray for them! In his first and third imprisonments, God supernaturally helped Yun to escape. After his second escape, Yun fled China and moved on to Germany, then later to Myanmar, where he was imprisoned for the last time. Since his release, Yun has visited many Western countries and observed the state of the Church in every one. Though he sees that there is more freedom for Christians in the West, he also sees that there is, for the most part, a great lack of knowledge of and obedience to the Word of God. He exhorts free Christians to obey the Great Commission, live godly lives, and pray that Christians worldwide will be able to stand steadfast no matter what difficulties they face.

The Heavenly Man is filled with stories that relate the goodness of God, in trouble and in tranquility. Brother Yun tells from his own experience what is happening to our fellow Christians in the vast land of China, and urges us in free lands to pray and, most of all, to get the Word of God into the hands of hungry souls. He desires to awake the West to see that this precious call to advance the kingdom of God is under attack globally, in places like China by hardship and viscous persecution, and in places like the United States by complacency and perversion of the gospel. Brother Yun hopes to someday return to his country and fellowship with his brethren again, but for now, he is making known the reality that they live in.

This book has certainly helped me to better see the heart of the underground Church in China through the eyes of one who has seen it grow almost from the beginning. One fact in the book that I found noteworthy is that in the 1920s, a movement was started to bring the gospel from China back to Jerusalem over the footprint of the ancient Silk Road, preaching the kingdom of God “in all territories along the way.” Brother Yun and other house-church members have a great passion for this “Back to Jerusalem” movement. I was encouraged by Brother Yun’s emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit in China; people are healed and convicted, demons are cast out, and wisdom and revelations are given to believers. The Heavenly Man has shown me that God is doing marvelous works to draw people to Him despite Communism’s efforts to squelch the gospel. The Lord knows no barriers; He is mighty to save!

I understand that Brother Yun has been accused by some, even some within the Christian community. For more information, read this open letter about the book by Paul Hattaway. God bless Brother Yun and the faithful in China.

Book Review: The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun and Paul Hattaway is a post from: As In a Mirror