Lord, I will lift my eyes to the hills
Knowing my help is coming from You
Your peace You give me in time of the storm
You are the source of my strength
You are the strength of my life
I lift my hands in total praise to You
You are the source of my strength
You are the strength of my life
I lift my hands in total praise to You
Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen
Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen
-Richard Smallwood
What if God is actually who he said he is?
What if you are actually who he says you are?
God has placed a promise and a provision next to every difficulty. When we locate the tribulation, we uncover the revelation that is also present. We stand on the promise, looking at the provision and we rejoice! As we “count it all joy,” [James 1:2] the truth becomes our experience and we are set free. -Graham Cooke
We all live off his generous bounty,
gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding—
all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
No one has ever seen God,
not so much as a glimpse.
This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
who exists at the very heart of the Father,
has made him plain as day.
(John1:16-18 The Message)
I like Mary, the Mother of Jesus. I honour her and call her blessed.
Her response to receiving a promise beyond all imagination was to allow the joy within her to overflow in the beautiful prophetic poem recorded in Luke.
Once the “how” was explained to her she said simply, “Yes. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.” No argument, no self-deprecating false humility, no skepticism. Just yes.
Many composers have set her words to music. Bach wrote this song (often called The Magnificat) using the phrase, Et exultant spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo -and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.
That same chapter records the account of her cousin Elizabeth’s miracle story of conceiving and giving birth to a huge promise as well.
It makes me wonder what Mary’s and Elizabeth’s mutual grandmother must have been like. There’s a person I can’t wait to meet.
Charis: Subject to Change 