Immanuel

I found this this week and its been a great source for thinking on the sovereignty, faithfulness, grace, and power of God. Enjoy



When once I mourned a load of sin;
When conscience felt a wound within;
When all my works were thrown away;
When on my knees I knelt to pray,
Then, blissful hour, remembered well,
I learned Thy love, Immanuel.


When storms of sorrow toss my soul;
When waves of care around me roll;
When comforts sink, when joys shall flee;
When hopeless griefs shall gape for me,
One word the tempest's rage shall quell--
That word, Thy name, Immanuel.
When for the truth I suffer shame;
When foes pour scandal on my name;
When cruel taunts and jeers abound;
When "Bulls of Bashan" gird me round,
Secure within Thy tower I'll dwell--
That tower, Thy grace, Immanuel.


When hell enraged lifts up her roar;
When Satan stops my path before;
When fiends rejoice and wait my end;
When legioned hosts their arrows send,
Fear not, my soul, but hurl at hell
Thy battle-cry, Immanuel.


When down the hill of life I go;
When o'er my feet death's waters flow;
When in the deep'ning flood I sink;
When friends stand weeping on the brink,
I'll mingle with my last farewell
Thy lovely name, Immanuel.


When tears are banished from mine eye;
When fairer worlds than these are nigh;
When heaven shall fill my ravished sight;
When I shall bathe in sweet delight,
One joy all joys shall far excel,
To see Thy face, Immanuel.



Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Spurgeon on the mind

Mr. Spurgeon either some how tapped into something that we, in 2010, need to hear. Or this has always been an issue (I think its the second one personally).

Sin! From your fruitful womb what myriads of ills proceeded! What countless hosts of evils are the fruits of sin! How many are the sins themselves! Sins of thought–rebellious thoughts, proud thoughts, blasphemous thoughts, atheistic thoughts, covetous thoughts, lustful thoughts, impatient thoughts, cruel thoughts, false thoughts, thoughts of ill memory, and dreams of an unholy future; what swarms are there! However, the omission of thoughts, which should have been such as thoughts of repentance, gratitude, reverence, faith, and the like–these are equally numerous. With the double list, my roll is written within and without with a hideous catalogue. As the gnats that swarm the air at eventide, so numerous are the transgressions of the mind.- Charles Spurgeon

Spurgeon Christmas

I've been trying to prepare my mindset for the coming month when stores will be crowded, traffic will be tough and money will be tighter for everyone. The last few years it seems tougher and tougher to be thrilled will the holiday activities due to my realizing that Christ is ever increasingly being taken out of the focus.
I began reading some Charles Spurgeon sermons on Christmas. It has started to shift my attention from the holiday, to the mindset of remembering Christ's birth as fully man/fully God, at the same time that all other christians are doing the same. Here is a taste of Spurgeon on Christmas.

“Observe, this morning, the sacred joy of Mary that you may imitate it. This is a season when all men expect us to be joyous. We compliment each other with the desire that we may have a "Merry Christmas." Some Christians who are a little squeamish, do not like the word "merry." It is a right good old Saxon word, having the joy of childhood and the mirth of manhood in it, it brings before one's mind the old song of the waits, and the midnight peal of bells, the holly and the blazing log. I love it for its place in that most tender of all parables, where it is written, that, when the long-lost prodigal returned to his father safe and sound, "They began to be merry." This is the season when we are expected to be happy; and my heart's desire is, that in the highest and best sense, you who are believers may be "merry." Mary's heart was merry within her; but here was the mark of her joy, it was all holy merriment, it was every drop of it sacred mirth. It was not such merriment as worldlings will revel in to-day and to-morrow, but such merriment as the angels have around the throne, where they sing, "Glory to God in the highest," while we sing "On earth peace, goodwill towards men." Such merry hearts have a continual feast. I want you, ye children of the bride-chamber, to possess to-day and to-morrow, yea, all your days, the high and consecrated bliss of Mary, that you may not only read her words, but use them for yourselves, ever experiencing their meaning: "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior."” - Charles Spurgeon