A Means of Grace

Michael E. Wood

August 20-24, 2011

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1^st Thessalonians 5:16-18

In our modern day culture we often use the term “means of grace” to refer to things such as Bible reading and prayer, church attendance, the preaching of God’s Word, and partaking of the Lord’s Table. While it is true that God, by grace through faith, does indeed reveal Himself by His Mighty Spirit to His children in these ways; He is the God of all grace and thus He reveals Himself and His will through the circumstances of our lives by His providence as well.  In contrast to much of today’s evangelical teaching, consider the following statements from the book, “Created to Praise”, by Derek Prime.

“Testing is one of the means by which God carries forward His savoring purposes.”

“Samuel Rutherford came to recognize that, ‘the Lord Jesus, in His mercy, makes room for Himself in our lives by our losses.’”

A means of grace that is not well known

Is that which lifts us up to the throne

Of Him Who in the midst of our trials

Makes more room for Himself as He smiles

Upon His children in whom He creates

A heart of praise which ever awaits

With hope that He in all expectation

Will be glorified through our tribulation.

As well we know from the promise we heard

From God Himself through His living Word

That as our Father and Sovereign of all,

He works all things for the humble that call

And trust in Him as Christ we make known,

Good shall come as His glory is shown

Amidst the things we don’t understand

As we commit all to His loving hand.

Free grace does not come by that which we do

And You order our lives to be centered in You.

For even our trials is Your sovereign appointment

That You use as our eyes are applied with the ointment

Of sight to see more clearly Oh Father

Your glory our end, as a son or a daughter.

So help us with patience, pursue then with joy

Your praise as our purpose of which You employ!

Thank You Father for reminding; all our need is Jesus

For His life for sin atoned and by His grace You seized us

As a brand plucked from the fire and raised with Him to own

No other pleasure than to praise Your glory on the throne!

You Are Our "New Song"

Michael E. Wood

August 17, 2011

While reading “Created to Praise”, by Derek Prime, Dianna and I found ourselves in tears a number of times. In fact, it seemed with every chapter our hearts were moved with a greater desire for worship and praise of our Magnificent Father God and our Lord Jesus Christ.  Being likewise encouraged to continue in the path chosen for me of the Father by the following words from that book:

“In our individual times of worship and of prayer, we may find ourselves expressing praise of God both in spoken word and in song. Sometimes hymns and songs which are already well known to us will exactly suit our situation. But the Holy Spirit has not exhausted the human language and all the hymns and songs which can be written in praise of God have not yet been written!”

“The Lord Himself is the believer’s song’ (Isa. 12:2)   Just as the preoccupation of praise is with God, so too psalms, hymns and spiritual songs are preoccupied with God Himself.”

and being reminded that God Himself in the person of Christ is our New Song, the music of “You are my Sunshine’ came to mind, and the following words were written to be sung to that familiar tune.

Oh God our Father

To Whom belongeth

All of our worship

So that in truth

All men will know that

You’re ever present

And by Your power You show forth the proof!

Chorus

You are our Savior.

You are our New Song!

You make our hearts glad.

For You we long,

Because You loved us,

Christ died to save us.

And by Your Spirit we follow You home!

Jesus, Your grace gives

More than I can tell.

You light my way and

True wisdom give,

That we may know You;

Show forth Your praises

And in Your glory we ever shall live!

(Chorus)

Sweet Holy Spirit

We ask You make us

More like our Savior

In every way.

To Jesus only

Be all the glory

As like Him, we shall be on that glad day!

(Chorus)

Mere Outward Forms

Michael E. Wood

August 9, 2011

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those that seek Him.  Hebrews 11:6

Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life to which you were called and about which you made a good confession in the presence of many witnesses.  1^st Timothy 6:12

Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23

The following are experts from “Keeping the Heart”, by John Flavel.

“The heart of man is his worst part before it is regenerate, and it is his best part afterwards. It is the seat of principles and the fountain of actions. The eye of God is, and the eye of the Christian ought to be, principally fixed upon it. The greatest difficulty in conversion is to win the heart to God, and the greatest difficulty after conversion is to keep the heart with God.”

“It is not the cleansing of the hand that makes the Christian (for many a hypocrite can show as fair a hand as he), but the purifying, watching, and right ordering of the heart.”

“God rejects all duties (however glorious in other aspects) offered Him without a heart. He who performs duty without a heart – that is, heedlessly – is no more accepted with God than he who performs it with a double heart – that is, hypocritically.”

Mere outward forms are not the means, by which our God is pleased,

But heartfelt, grace filled, humbled hearts is where our God is seized.

For it is He who raised us up to bombard His heavenly throne

With petitions demonstrating in His sight alone

That He is ours and we are His with joy as sweet perfume,

In Christ our supplications rise as with Him we commune.

Of this abundance we partake, not one can take away

As all serve only to remind us, He is our all each day.

And though our greatest conflicts lie, hid deep within our breast,

His presence makes us strong to fight with fear in each new test,

He brings to show the magnitude of faithfulness and love

He is within Himself and shows to us through Christ above.

Oh Father help us know and love You more with every breath

You give until You bring us home in Christ through mortal death

And as we wake with You where there shall be no more alarms

We’ll praise You then perfected in Your everlasting arms!

Carried By Your Grace

Michael E. Wood
August 2, 2011

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside very weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1, 2

As followers of Christ, as we consider the fact that we are in the world but are not of the world, it behooves us to consider those things which we have been given as liberties. These would be things which are not overtly sinful in and of themselves nor bring dishonor to our Lord, yet invariably may either cause our weaker brother to stumble or serve as weights upon the legs of progress in our growth in grace and the advancement of the gospel and the kingdom of Christ for the glory of God. Let each one be fully persuaded in his own mind with a conscience captivated by the Word of God, dependant upon and taught by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. God is the One true Judge to Whom we will give an account. His goodness and mercy follows us all the days of our life and we shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Hallelujah!

Deliver me from liberties, of which I now partake,
If they veil Your face to some that You for Your own sake
Would reveal the glory of Your grace to mortal men
And through their conscience prick their heart to own up to their sin
Of judging You as blind men do and know not their own weakness;
Yeah, as dead who heareth not the Man who in his meekness
Came to earth and suffered on a cruel Roman cross
That Your glory would display our purchase by His loss.


For in truth I know not anyone as vile as I
When confronted by my sin and to it daily die.
Oh help me by Your Spirit and Your holiness proclaim
That You alone are all my strength. Your glory is my aim!
And though I fail so miserably it pleases me to know
That You alone O Christ my King in faithfulness will show
Your smile through mercies daily gifts of love that I might praise
You more and more while carried by Your grace through all my days.

Heaven's Shore

Michael E. Wood
August 1, 2011

1st John 1:8-10 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.

How often as men do we try to dictate what true confession and repentance from sin looks like. A mere change in outward actions can be learned and implemented by the ungodly for self-centered, self-satisfying reasons without a thought toward the glory of God. It is God who makes the heart new, and it is God who breaks the heart and causes it to cry out to Him alone for mercy in the midst of wretchedness and depravity. It is God Who sees! It is God Who hears! It is God alone Who comforts and wipes away the tears.
The first stanza of this poem was written upon hearing a message by Reddit Andrews September 12, 2010 and then after reading a message aloud to my beloved Dianna by C.H. Spurgeon nearly a year later, entitled “Honest Dealing With God”, the following came to mind after she had fallen asleep.

Oh help me be not ambiguous when I confess my sin
But show me more particular that I be clean within
For all my heart belongs to You and pure it is to be
That all my ways may magnify the glory all in Thee!


This coldness that I feel within of which I do detest
And hinders me from seeking only Christ who gives true rest,
And even worse with pride expecting accolades outpoured,
Oh show me my deceptive heart which cannot be ignored.


For only in confession of the truth can I be free
And cast my every care upon the One who died for me.
Deliver me from every grain of false humility
As a son You’ve purchased by the blood of Calvary!


Oh help me see more clearly my true wretchedness as poor
And yet delight in mercy by Christ Jesus as the Door
By which I find acceptance then to rise on eagles wings
And give You all the glory with the heart You made that sings,
Eternal praises even now unto Your Name and more,
When on that day through Christ alone, I stand on heaven’s shore!

Imagine There’s a Place

Michael E. Wood
August 2, 2011

Psalm 6:1-3

A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.
O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary, beholding Your power and glory. Because Your steadfast love is better than life, my lips shall praise You.

So often we look to the Psalms for personal comfort in the light of our own particular situations without a thought of seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in them. Yet he who bore our grief’s can be readily seen in the midst of them. David was a type of Christ in the wilderness.

Having already lived for thirty years on this earth as a man and having been baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Every moment He was in this world, the sinless Son of God breathed the sin corrupted air with His eyes firmly fixed on the glory of God which was the primary purpose for which He came. After forty days of fasting, He was tempted of the devil and overcame with the confidence that the steadfast love of the Father is better than life itself.

Imagine there’s a place with putrid rotten smell
With corruptive flesh awaiting fires of burning hell.
And yet this is the place where Jesus entered in
When He came to earth to redeem us from our sin.


Imagine there’s a place where stone immoral hearts
Were constantly projecting at you poison, fiery darts.
And yet this is the place God chose to come and hide
His glory in a veil of flesh, in Jesus to abide.


Imagine there’s a place all filled with sin and pride
And yet that is the heart of everyone for whom Christ died.
Oh the bane; corruptive hearts all filled with such resistance
To the One who walked alone amidst such vile persistence.


Oh can you not now see, the clear reality,
That this is you and this is me, who nailed Him to the tree?
But Oh what glorious wonder that He would live so long
Upon this earth; fulfill the law for those to Him belong.


For we can not imagine the price He did fulfill
That in Himself alone He did place on Zion’s hill
A remnant by the covenant He sealed with His Own blood,
Exhausting all the wrath of God which will then like a flood
O’erwhelm all those whose house is built; deceptive sinking sand.
For none but those in Christ alone, will in the judgment stand.


Oh trust not in mere feelings, but in God’s truth abide,
For He sees us as we are, in Jesus as we hide.
In Him alone our only hope who spanned the great divide,
And through the cross He guides us by His Spirit to confide,
With confidence that only He can to our conscience give,
As we by Him now seek His face and for His glory live.


Oh praise Him for His faithfulness, Who in His love is just
To forgive our sins and cleanse us from our every lust.
For only by His jealousy for righteousness revealed
In Christ alone do we have hope and in Him are concealed,
Until that day that He with joy, as faultless shall present
Us to Himself as His chaste bride for whom to earth was sent
By God the Father, Who in Him as One proclaims His Name,
Jehovah Is the great “I Am”, forevermore the same!

Give Glory to Your Name

Michael E. Wood
July 13-29, 2011

Matthew 6:9:  Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name.

While sitting on our balcony, and contemplating the first request of our Lord’s model for prayer, the following chorus came to mind.

“Give glory to Your Name.
Give glory to Your Name.
We take delight
As You give glory to Your Precious Name.
Give glory to Your Name,
Delight as we proclaim,
For You alone are worthy of all praise.”


As I sang this little chorus to my beloved Dianna, she offered some suggestions which helped to form the final version.
Interestingly enough, I also happened to be reading in Genesis 2:18 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Thus with the help of my wife as we continue by strength of the same Holy Spirit that Christ be exalted, we offer this song of praise to our Blessed Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise we rejoice in our union with Him and the confidence of the promise of His Word as members of His body, and for His glory we will be made fit for Him.

The final verse was written after again sitting out on the balcony and watching how the light was reflecting from the sun onto a plaque Dianna had made with the scripture reference 2nd Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness”, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And though we shine as lights in this dark and dying world, our gospel is yet hidden to those that are lost in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of those that believe not. His lovely face is veiled and yet we are encouraged by His Spirit to continue to pursue Him through the knowledge we are given day by day, from faith to faith in the sufficiency of His written word unto the praise of His glorious grace.

Give Glory to Your Name

The Lamb of God enthroned above
Was slain before all time.
Your sovereign choice; expression of
Your great eternal mind.
And from the cross Your love displayed
Your holy righteousness
And for Your sake, our Father God,
His glory we confess.


(Chorus)


Give glory to Your Name!
Give glory to Your Name!
And You delight
As we give glory to Your Precious Name!
Give glory to Your Name!
We’ll never be the same,
As with our hearts we glorify Your Name!


Your Precious Name, as it alone
Is worthy of all praise,
And by the power of Your blood,
We stand, forgiven, raised,
Rejoicing in the privilege;
The called and justified
As grace through faith You give to live
Till with You glorified.


(Chorus)


Oh when we fail to notice
As our memory is so weak,
We trust in You that every step
From slipping You will keep.
As all for Your great honor Lord,
Oh help us to be true.
And by Your Holy Spirit’s power,
O Christ give glory to!


(Chorus)


As lights reflecting but as veiled,
The glory of our God
In the face of Jesus Christ
As homeward now we trod,
In this dark and dying world,
While day to day renewed
In the knowledge of the One
Forevermore pursue


(Chorus)

By the way, remember the poem that I posted a while back where Dianna had commented, "This sounds like it could be a song"?  Well, this is the song!

It's Your Power You Exalt

Michael E. Wood

July 28, 2011

Upon listening to a message by Alistair Begg entitled, The Power of Weakness, preached from 2^nd Chronicles 20, I was reminded not only of my own weakness, but of the power of God by the Son of His love which shines brilliantly into my own heart penetrating through every thought to manifest the obedience of Christ unto His glory and praise. By His Spirit we are given the grace to see through the natural events of this life the beauty of Christ, and are empowered to look to Him through His Word as through a glass darkly now, but one day face to face, we shall see Him as He is, and Hallelujah, we shall be like Him!

And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
 
 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.  Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.   Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. ¹¹ To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.   1 Peter 5:4-11

Oh Father, in our weakness, it’s Your power You exalt,

As You alone thus penetrate by light our cloudy thought

Of strength of which we think we have, when none but Yours exist,

And under Your Almighty hand, the devil we resist.

For You O God, oppose the proud and grace give to the humble

As we cast our cares on You, o’er which at times we stumble.

And as You are the giver of all grace through Christ we find,

You care for us and give the faith to be of sober mind.

To be on watch for him that prowls like a roaring lion,

Seeking someone to devour, the adversary of Zion.

Oh help us be not puffed up in what we have just imagined,

But be encouraged by the brotherhood that You have fashioned.

And by experience when we have suffered for a while

We trust You will restore, confirm, and strengthen by Your smile.

And by the promise of Your Word and Holy Ghost establish

All in Your dominion by the grace of which You lavish

On us now so richly till the time that He appears;

Jesus, the Chief-Shepherd, who transcends all of our years.

As from Him the unfading crown of glory we receive

We’ll know that through His cross alone and mercy we believe,

Forever and forever with Jesus we shall spend

Eternity unto His praise, whose praise shall never end!

Our Joy Will Be Complete

Michael E. Wood
July 22, 2011

1st John 1: 4-9

What a joy it is to know that God Is Light and in Him is no darkness at all. And though we are humbled by remaining sin which dwells within and sin as darkness veils the lustrous glory of our Savior’s face, we delight in the mercies He shows us from day to day to know that He is God the Son. His blood cleanses us from all sin enabling us to walk in the light, as He is in the light, and we have fellowship one with another unto the praise of God’s glorious grace. Through Christ alone we can say, “It is well with my soul”, and rejoice in the fact that He who hath begun a good work in us will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body! Hallelujah! To God be the glory!

The darkness is our own and for it You give grace,
Through Christ alone we overcome and valiant, it we face.
While in this body, unbelief as clouds within shall rise
But You have given faith whereby we may receive the Prize.

For though we stumble now, assured of victory,
Your Holy Spirit stirs afresh the songs of Calvary.
Though humbled as we are, Your honor Father seek
We in the death that Jesus died, the One who saves the meek.

We praise You for the light You give with each new morn,
While here on earth we follow with the cross that Christ has borne.
Your glory now we seek though haughty, hesitant;
And praise You LORD for glorious grace through Christ that You have sent.

And with Your Word fulfilled, our joy will be complete,
As You our God are light and love; in Christ there’s no defeat!
And when enthroned with Him, whose vict’ry has been won,
We’ll praise You as the church triumphant; God the three in One!

Hidden in the Smallest Things

Michael E. Wood
July 8-10, 2011

My beloved Dianna is a very gifted artist. Some of her work can be viewed by clicking on to the link in the upper left corner of this blog under the heading, “Giving Theology the Boot”.

Recently she had also discovered some pretty amazing computer tools she could use to enhance pictures taken of “dead things”, that is, dead plant life. There is a whole world of art work and pictures and stories that can be found in God’s creation, for truly, every stalk is a quill proclaiming the glories of His grace!

As she was working on a particular piece, and finding much joy in the process, I happened to notice how the sun was reflecting its light and framing in what was a beautiful picture to me and thus I went outside and took a picture. She did not account for the fact that we were having Internet connection problems at the time. Thus the following tells the story of what happened.

The sun is going down.
My wife is in her gown.
She’s painting with computer skills
That will you just astound.


We find that all around
God’s beauty can be found.
Hidden in the smallest things
God’s glory doth abound!


But then there was a glitch.
Computers have a hitch.
For when the Internet goes down
It’s like a turn-off switch.


And that which she had done,
Was like it had off run,
Erasing everything that she
Had only just begun.


Now thankful for her trial.
We laughed for just awhile.
And glory in the beauty
Of our God and Father’s smile.


For every stalk’s a quill,
Proclaiming that God will
All His purpose for His glory
Surely will fulfill!

The art print below was cropped from an original photo of a dead "mum" on Grandma’s porch back in North Carolina. There was one small green sprout in the bottom of the pot which I had the camera focused on. When the picture was snapped, the shadows from the sun streaming into the pot revealed the presence of these little creatures. Adding color to the grey images produced this final Master piece.

But Blessed is He

Michael E. Wood

July 9, 2011

Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mingled. (Proverbs 9:5 KJV)

On one occasion, Jesus spoke to those who professed to be the chosen people of God, by saying, “Search the scriptures, for in them, you think that you have eternal life and they are they which testify of me.” His reference was to the Old Testament scriptures. How many are there, that read the Old Testament without seeing by faith the Christ of all scripture? How many are there that hear not the voice of His Spirit speaking with clarity concerning Him and do not partake of Him who is The Bread of Life or of His blood which cleanses us from all sin?

If you do not have

The kind of faith that rises up

To partake of Him

Who Is our bread and mingled cup,

Then you better check

The kind of faith you think you have.

For it may be only

That which is deceptive salve,

For a conscience

That may prove to be so full of scorn

That it will not

Listen to reproof in wisdom borne

By the man

Who Is likewise the Savior and the Lord.

As only faith

In Christ alone can peace with God afford.

But blessed is he,

Who free partakes of Jesus’ flesh and blood,

Whose house is founded

On the Rock that stands in every flood

And winds that rise

To test and prove the source of all foundations,

And glorify

The Only God and Lord of all the nations!