Posts Tagged ‘love’

Living A Transformed Life In Jesus Christ

Posted: February 11, 2013 in Biblical, catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental, The Story, universal
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TransformedLife

“Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness ofour God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble…” ~ 2 Peter 1:1-10

If your spiritual life is concentrated only on external practices and traditions, but does nothing to bring about real change, you have gained nothing. Too many people think as long as they keep the fasting rules, do their prayers, and attend the services, they are “good” Christians. Yet if there is no love, no charity, and forgiveness of others, and your life is filled with gossip and judgement, your Christian faith is worth nothing.

Christ condemned the Pharisees not because they kept the law and attended to the traditions of the Jewish faith, but because they did so while filled with pride and arrogance. Without sincere repentance and holiness of life, their encounter with God led to an emptiness of heart.

Because our Christian faith, regardless of it’s expression, is one of tradition and liturgical structure, it is easy to fall into the trap of being nothing more than a Pharisee. Being strict in one’s observance of your “Christian” practices can easily lead to pride and arrogance. If you find yourself feeling better than others and proud of your piety, you have gained absolutely nothing. The external practice of the Christian faith without love, heartfelt humility and repentance leads down the road of spiritual ruin.

The Church is the hospital of the soul, but healing can only come if we can recognize our own need for healing. If your doctor prescribes a medication for your condition but you fail to follow your doctor’s orders, you will not get well. Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross has provided all that you need for spiritual transformation, but healing only comes if you repent of your sins, and place your faith and trust in Him. This begins the healing process.

The goal is holiness (the righteousness of God in Christ) and is the direct result of our having submitted in all humility to a life of repentance. When you do this Christ changes you through the power of the Holy Spirit. If you simply go through the motions of your Christian faith, you are no better off than the Pharisees whom Christ condemned.

“Everything is Truly in God’s Hands”

Posted: January 12, 2013 in Biblical, catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental, Scriptural, universal
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in-gods-hands-matthew-odegard

“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”  In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”  Job 1:20-22

1.  When Adversity comes to us:

a. How do we react?

b. What do we do?

2.  The Heidelberg Catechism asks in question 28: “What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and by his providence does still uphold all things?”

Answer: “That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from His love; since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.”

3.  Acts 17:23-31 says, “For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent, because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead.”

4. If we have the spiritual knowledge of God’s sovereign providence that enables us to be thankful when things are well or if adversity befalls us, we will know this, not because of the pain in and of itself, but because we know the Lord is working in it for His glory and our good.

Romans 8:28-30 declares, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

How many times have you asked why? Is there something missing in your life? Does the guilt of your sinful behavior weigh mightily upon you? Would you like to experience God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness? Jesus said I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.” John 10:10b The Bible says to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Here is how:

5. We must Repent – It is a command

6. We must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ – this is how we obtain eternal life

7.  Why?

a. We are sinners – we are born that way

b. We are due punishment for our sin – “for the wages of sin is death.”

c. We face inevitable judgment – because of our disobedience

7.  There is hope! God, through His Son, Jesus Christ is calling you today; completely trust Him with the life He gave to you.  Repent, that is, turn away from your sin and unbelief, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ with all of your heart….and you shall be saved.

Rest assured, everything IS in God’s hands!

The House That Grace Built

Posted: December 10, 2012 in catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental, Uncategorized, universal
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byGraceFaith

“Salvation is like a house built beside a broad and busy highway. Like everyone else, I was born on that highway and was spending my life following it to its destination. At first the trip had been exciting and almost effortless, the constant flow of the crowd carrying me along. However, the farther down the road I got, the more difficult things became; my original joy had dissipated and I noticed that my fellow travelers rarely laughed anymore and their occasional smiles seemed forced. The backpack I had been issued at the beginning of my journey had grown heavier every day, and I was now permanently stooped from its weight. Worst of all, I had been overtaken lately by an unexplainable fear of reaching the end of the highway’.

‘One day my attention was drawn suddenly to the side of the highway to a magnificently constructed house. Over its narrow front doors a sign silently announced in bold red letters: ‘Whosoever Will May Enter and Find Rest’. I do not know how I knew it, but I realized that if I could reach the inside of this beautiful house I would be saved from the highway and its destination. Pushing my way through the mass of indifferent travelers, I broke clear of the crowd and ran up the steps to the front door. But, it was locked. Perhaps it’s only stuck, I thought, and tried again. It refused to open. I was confused. Why would someone put up a sign inviting people in and then lock the door to keep them out? Not knowing what else to do (I refused to return to the highway), I pounded on the door, and shouted for someone on the inside to open it, and tried to pick the lock – but it was useless’.

‘Suddenly a voice spoke my name, and I spun around. It was the Builder of the House. He placed in my hand a key with one word carved on it: FAITH. Turning back to the door, I inserted the key in the lock, twisted it, and heard a reassuring click. The door swung open, and I stepped across the threshold. Immediately the backpack fell from off my shoulders, my back began to straighten like a wilting flower reaching for the sunlight, and from deep within me my soul breathed a sigh of relief as an extraordinary sense of peace and well-being wrapped itself around me. The Builder of the House welcomed me to my new home, explaining that everything in the house was now mine to enjoy. This was the house that grace had built, and faith was the key’.

‘Surveying my new surroundings, I saw that the House of Salvation was a house with many rooms and I was only in the foyer. Across the way was a door marked Answered Prayer. Next to it was another Daily Victory, and next to it, Every Need Supplied. The row of doors, each promising some spiritual blessing, stretched endlessly throughout the house. The discovery of these other rooms puzzled me, for I failed to mention that the foyer in which I stood was jammed with people. It seemed that everyone who entered the house stopped in the foyer, never advancing beyond it, as though the foyer were the entire building’ – remember that as well.

‘This was little better than the highway. Couldn’t they see that there was more to the House of Salvation than the foyer? Surely, the Builder intended every room to be occupied. Hadn’t he said that everything in the house was ours to enjoy? I, for one, had no desire to spend my life standing in a foyer. This was my Father’s house; I was his child, and all he possessed was mine. I went to the door marked Answered Prayer, grabbed the knob, and twisted. It was locked. I went to the next door, the next, and the next. All were locked. Nevertheless, this time I didn’t try to pick the lock or knock the door down. I remembered my encounter with the front door and knew I had a key for that. Although I had been in the house only a short time, I had somehow managed to accumulate a large number of other keys. Rummaging through my collection, I selected one tagged Doing Your Best, and tried it. It did not fit. Nor did the one tagged Religious Activity. The key of Sincerity proved useless. Next I tried the key of Tithing (I was getting desperate); but it was as powerless as the others. I was beginning to understand why the foyer was so crowded’.

‘And then I heard a familiar voice. It was the Builder of the House. ‘Child’, he said, ‘do you remember the key I gave you to enter my house?’. ‘Yes, I remember’. ‘What was it?’. ‘Why, it was the key of Faith’, I answered’. Now listen, the Builder said: ‘The key of Faith is the master key that unlocks every door in the house’. Faith is the master key of the Christian life. From start to finish, salvation is ‘by grace through faith’. Everything we get in the Christian life we get by grace through faith. Grace makes it available and faith accepts it. Grace is God’s hand giving; faith is man’s hand receiving. Faith possesses what grace provides. Grace is God’s part; faith is man’s part. It is our positive response to God’s gracious offer. Everything God demands of man can be summed up in one word: faith.”

~ by Ronald Dunn

Faith in the Valley

Posted: November 19, 2012 in Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental
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When I lived in an Arizona valley where Phoenix is lying, the surround vistas are awe inspiring.   The plants are so green, the cactus thrives, and you can see for miles (when there is no pollution alert).  In the spring, if you want to call it that, the air can be crisp and cold.  The evening dew bursts forth and slaps your face with the fresh scent of the moist ground.  Then, when the first 100 degree day hits, the green desert starts to turn yellow, and withers to brown.  Everything, including humans look for shade and relief from the heat of the sun.

When things get hot for us, when things start to wither around us and turn bad where do we go for relief?  For the Christian, we turn to God and have faith in Him.  Why is that?   The reason for that is because even if we have family, friends, or co-workers to share our problems with, we still must have faith in God.  If you think about it closely, we don’t have family, we don’t have friends, all we have is our faith, and all we have is our God.

Is there a lesson here? The lesson is that who we have a relationship with, what we have or don’t have has no bearing on our faith in God or in our relationship with Him. Life can beat us down hard, and we have to deal with it the best way we can. It will either make us stronger by faith in God and trusting in Him to care for us, or it will take us down into the pits of despair because we allow it to dominate and control us. Sometimes we try to be noble, and handle everything on our own.  We all have to deal with life in our own way, behind our own eyes, from which no one else can see or experience.  Growing strong out of these lessons is the only way to go. There is no other way to go, except down into the depths of weakness and self indulgence.  Faith in God will keep us out of the grim depths of despair.

The Word of God teaches that we should give thanks for everything.  I learned something this weekend about thanksgiving. We shouldn’t thank God for the bad situation happening to us, but we should thank God for Him being there with us through it all….giving us the strength and hope to carry on.  We must thank God for Who He Is and all of what He has done for us, mostly for sending His Son Jesus Christ to be our Savior! I do not believe God bestows upon us tragedies, disasters, or illness or calamity. But He is there when it happens and is there when it is over, and is there when we are healing from it. He is our source of strength, vitality and healing.

Andre Crouch wrote in his most famous and moving song about trusting God, “Through it all, through it all…..I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to trust in God.”

Through it all….He gives us faith, hope, and love. He bestows upon us His mercy, His compassion, His grace and His love.  He gives us salvation…His salvation…maybe in mystery but it is salvation none the less.

Don’t Worry, Jesus also Had Unbelieving Family Members

Posted: May 25, 2012 in Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental
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Do you, like me, have family members who do not believe in Jesus? If so, we are in good company. So did Jesus. And I think this is meant to give us hope.

According to the Apostle John, “not even his brothers believed in him” (John 7:5). That’s incredible. Those who had lived with Jesus for 30 years really did not know him. Not one of Jesus’ brothers is mentioned as a disciple during his pre-crucifixion ministry. But after his resurrection and ascension, there they are in the upper room worshiping him as God (Acts 1:14).

Why didn’t they believe? And what made them change?

The Bible doesn’t answer the first question. But I’ll bet it was difficult to have Jesus for a brother.

First, Jesus would have been without peer in intellect and wisdom. He was astounding temple rabbis by age 12 (Luke 2:42, 47). A sinful, fallen, gifted sibling can be a hard act to follow. Imagine a perfect, gifted sibling.

Second, Jesus’ consistent and extraordinary moral character must have made him odd and unnerving to be around. His siblings would have grown increasingly self-conscious around him, aware of their own sinful, self-obsessed motives and behavior, while noting that Jesus didn’t seem to exhibit any himself. For sinners, that could be hard to live with.

Third, Jesus was deeply and uniquely loved by Mary and Joseph. How could they not have treated him differently? They knew he was the Lord. Imagine their extraordinary trust in and deference to Jesus as he grew older. No doubt the siblings would have perceived a dimension to the relationship between the oldest child and their parents that was different from what they experienced.

And when swapping family stories it would have been hard to match a star appearing at your brother’s birth.

Jesus out-classed his siblings in every category. How could anyone with an active sin nature not resent being eclipsed by such a phenom-brother? Familiarity breeds contempt when pride rules the heart.

More pain than we know must have been behind Jesus’ words, “a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household” (Matthew 13:57).

So as we assess the role our weak, stumbling witness plays in our family members’ unbelief, let’s remember Jesus — not even a perfect witness guarantees that loved ones will see and embrace the gospel. We must humble ourselves and repent when we sin. But let’s remember that the god of this world and indwelling sin is what blinds the minds of unbelievers (2 Corinthians 4:4).

The story of Jesus’ brothers can actually give us hope for our loved ones. At the time his brothers claimed that Jesus was “out of his mind” (Mark 3:21), it must have appeared very unlikely that they would ever become his disciples. But eventually they did! And not only followers, but leaders and martyrs in the early church.

The God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” shone in their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of their brother, Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:6).

So take heart! Don’t give up praying for unbelieving family members. Don’t take their resistance as the final word. They may yet believe, and be used significantly in the kingdom!

And while they resist, or if they have died apparently unbelieving, we can trust them to the Judge of all the earth who will be perfectly just (Genesis 18:25). Jesus does not promise that every parent, sibling, or child of a Christian will believe, but does painfully promise that some families will divide over him (Matthew 10:34-39). We can trust him when it happens.

It is moving to hear James refer to his brother as “our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory” (James 2:1). Can you imagine what this phrase meant for James? The Lord of glory had once slept beside him, ate at his dinner table, played with his friends, spoke to him like a brother, endured his unbelief, paid the debt of his sin, and then brought him to faith.

It may have taken 20-30 years of faithful, prayerful witness by the Son of God, but the miracle occurred: his brothers believed. May the Lord of glory grant the same grace to our beloved unbelievers.

~ John Bloom

Raging Rivers, Treacherous Rock Faces

Posted: December 20, 2011 in Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental
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July 2008

I stayed awake last night after about 0130 AM, just thinking about my situation.  Here I am looking about my home from the cushions from my couch, as my wife lay next to me in a hospital bed furnished by Hospice of the Valley.  I hear the whooshing of the oxygen concentrator as it pumps fresh oxygen into my wife’s lungs at 4 liters per minute or second, whatever it is.  I look about in the semi darkness and hear her labored breathing.  I think about the bills I have to pay, the rent that is very past due, and everything else one thinks about when his wife tells him the hour is near.  We have until July 9th to come up with $2153.76.  We have exhausted various local resources for help.  They are either out of money or ask us to wait a few months.  We can’t wait.  I can’t wait, and my wife and child can’t wait either.  Yes, I was working a job, but when I told them about my wife’s Dream Foundation vacation they approved, they weren’t very happy with it, but approved it.  When I returned from the vacation and told them my wife’s condition has declined since leaving, and that I needed 5 more days to find someone to come into my home to watch her, they weren’t happy about that either.  Above all that, I had to drive 40 miles to work every day.  I loved that position, but it is realistically too far to travel because, a) don’t want to be that far away from my sick wife, b) at $4.30 a gallon I was paying almost $100 a week in gas!  The company wouldn’t compensate for any of the travel.  So now, I am without a job.  I will start looking Monday, for something very close.  I need to find something that will bring in some money.

It is sad, that the state of the financial situation of many people in our country is pretty bad.  For one reason or another, a lot of Americans are robbing peter to pay paul in their life to survive!  I was laid off last May of 2007.  I was on unemployment until the end of November.  I couldn’t get a job until like February.  Things started to fall behind.  I had to take out a couple of loans from Army Emergency Relief (thank God for them!) to catch up.  But, it was only temporary.  I have never really caught up.  Now my rent is due…..it’s July and very hot, and I am NOT going to leave this house!  God must supply ALL of my needs according to His riches in glory!  Why?  Because I believe He will, and I am praying very hard, with tears, as to why He is testing us so!!  With all that is going on, why must we have to go through so much more?  I am feeling like Job again.

What to do, what to do.  The clock ticks the minutes, and hours and the days go by, one by one getting closer to THE day ~ when the rent is due, and when the lights will be turned off, etc., etc.  Life is hard.  For the young out there, it is NOT a cakewalk.  You have no one except family to care ABOUT you, and not always care FOR you.  They have their own responsibilities and expenses.  It isn’t required in the complicated world we live in today.  Oh for the days when several generations would live in one big home, like the Walton’s (sorry for the reference)!!  When we could enjoy our brothers and sisters, and grandparents all under one roof!

Today I look at the icons of Jesus Christ and pray, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon my family.”  I am threatened of life on the street and no place to stay, and yet my wife says she isn’t going anywhere.  Does she know something I don’t?  I have relatives staying with me from North Carolina, a daughter and granddaughter.  I was so relieved to see them, to have family near and dear, which I have missed so much.  My family is spread all over the country,  Florida, Michigan, California, North Carolina, and Arizona.  Why do families and children want to be so far from each other?  What has society done to these precious relationships?

God wants me to build His church, but then His church starts with my family, then it grows from there.  As a married Orthodox priest, I see how family is related to the Church and the Church to family.  The Church has helped us, but is unable to help us completely.  Thank God for what they could do!

Is this a plea for help?  Or is this an observation of someone in need maybe too proud to ask or to afraid of rejection?  It is probably both.  Some of you are subscribed to my blog and others aren’t.  I wish all my friends were subscribed to my blog.  Not just for this piece I am writing now, but for the instruction and writing that I have done to teach you the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In conclusion, I fell asleep last night thinking on all these things.  I dreamt weird dreams, about raging rivers, and ragged rock faces, treacherous roads, and strangers hindering me.  I feel as though I am facing doom, but I know my Savior is near me and loves me, and will not let me down…..it’s just the process that really sucks!

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

My wife passed away July 29th 2008.

On Baptism

Posted: November 3, 2011 in Charismatic, Christian, Church, Evangelical, Liturgical, Pentecostal, Reformed, Repentance, Sacramental
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baptism

1 Peter 3:20-21, “which aforetime were disobedient, when the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water: which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…”

Baptism – the water of baptism, symbolizing the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, is the means of salvation to all those who receive the Holy Spirit in His quickening, cleansing efficacy. Now as the waters of the flood could not have saved Noah and his family, had they not made use of the ark; so the water of baptism saves no man, but as it is the means of his getting his heart purified by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, and illustrates to him that purification.

John 3:5, “Jesus answered, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless someone is born of water and spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God.”

Jesus asserted the obligation of (baptism) the outward rite, He asserted likewise, as its necessary complement, the presence and creating and informing energy of the Spirit with which John had promised that the coming one should baptize (Matthew 3:11). That as John’s baptism had been unto repentance, for the remission of sins, so the new life must include the real no less than the symbolic cleansing of the old, sinful life, and the infusion by the Spirit of a new and divine principle of life. Thus Jesus’ words included a prophetic reference to the complete ideal of Christian baptism – “the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Tit. 3:5; Eph. 5:26); according to which the two factors are inseparably blended (not the one swallowed up by the other), and the new life is inaugurated both symbolically in the baptism with water, and actually in the renewing by the Holy Spirit, yet so as that the rite, through its association with the Spirit’s energy, is more than a mere symbol: is a veritable vehicle of grace to the recipient, and acquires a substantial part in the inauguration of the new life. Baptism, considered merely as a rite, and apart from the operation of the Spirit, does not and cannot impart the new life. Without the Spirit it is a lie. It is a truthful sign only as the sign of an inward and spiritual grace. ~ M. R. Vincent

Titus 3:4-5, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit…”

“The washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” literally means “the laver of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit.” It does not mean the act of bathing, but the bath, the laver. The phrase laver of regeneration distinctly refers to baptism, in connection with which and through which as a medium regeneration is conceived as taking place. It is true that nothing is said of faith; but baptism implies faith on the part of its recipient. It has no regenerating effect apart from faith; and the renewing of the Holy Spirit is not bestowed if faith be wanting. ~ M. R. Vincent

Ephesians 5:26, “having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word…”

“To be connected with having cleansed it by the laver of water: with the word describes that which accompanies the sacrament and which is the peculiar element of baptismal purification. Compare John 15:3, “You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” St. Augustine says: “Take away the word, and what is the water but water?” ~ M. R. Vincent

When someone desires baptism, they are asked whether or not they have repented of their sins and placed their faith and trust in God through Jesus Christ. This is the “inquiry” spoken of in 1 Peter 3:21, and the answer is given, “I do repent of my sins, and I have placed my faith and trust in God through Jesus Christ…I believe that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Lord.”

Therefore, it is clarified of what St. Peter said in Acts 2:38-39, “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all those who are far away, as many as the Lord our God calls to himself.”

The Fire of Your Love

Posted: October 24, 2011 in Charismatic, Christian, Evangelical, Pentecostal, Reformed, Repentance
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Who can endure on the day of Your coming?
Who will be able to stand?
You will return like refiner’s fire.
Who will be saved by Your hand?

You made a way by the blood of Your sacrifice,
Poured out on Calvary’s tree;
Now, in Your presence, Your glory, and righteousness
Stir up a passion in me.

Though You were blameless, You laid down Your life for us,
Bearing the weight of our sin;
Come, with the power that raised You, victorious,
Pour out Your presence again.

The fire of Your love is burning within me,
Consuming my heart, restoring my soul;
My only desire, to abide in Your holiness,
Here in the fire of Your love, here in the fire of Your love.

~ Paul Baloche & Ed Kerr

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