Imputed righteousness, Some thoughts

Imputed righteousness is a theological concept directly related to the doctrine of Justification. It is particularly prevalent in the Reformed tradition.

"Justification is that step in salvation in which God declares the believer righteous. Protestant theology has emphasized that this includes the imputation of Christ's righteousness (crediting it to the believer's "account"), whereas Roman Catholic theology emphasizes that God justifies in accord with an infused righteousness merited by Christ and maintained by the believer's good works," (Elwell Evangelical Dictionary). Imputed righteousness therefore means that upon repentance and belief in Christ, individuals are forensically declared righteous. This righteousness is not the believer's own, rather it is Christ's own righteousness 'imputed' to the believer.

A primary line of argumentation for this doctrine maintains that perfect righteousness or holiness is necessary to be with God. All mankind "fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23) because all their 'righteousness' is like filthy rags (Is 64:6) before the throne of God, and so all are "dead in their trespasses and sins" (Eph 2:1), and as a result "will not come into [God's] light for fear that their evil deeds will be revealed" (John 3:20). All mankind is in this predicament because all are the offspring of Adam and Eve (Rom 5) who originally sinned against God. As a result of Adam's fall, the world was cursed and sin entered the world. But upon confession of one's own sin and faith in Christ's death and resurrection, the sinner is justified and counted as having the righteousness of Christ.

Although all of Christianity would agree that Christ is the believer's chief representative and head before the perfect holiness of God, not all would agree that Christ's righteousness is imputed to the believer. In some circles, imputed righteousness is referred to as positive imputation - where the believer receives the righteousness of Christ. It stands in contrast to negative imputation - where the sin and judgment due to the repenting sinner is imputed to Christ. Virtually all would agree with the latter, but not all will agree with the former. The debate turns on a number of Bible verses not the least of which deal with what and whose righteousness was credited to Abraham when he believed God (Genesis 15:5-6).

Imputed righteousness is one of the classic doctrines of Protestantism and traces back through the Reformers - chiefly John Calvin and Martin Luther. These men stood against the Roman Catholic doctrine of infused righteousness where the righteousness of the saints and of Christ is gradually infused to the believer through the sacraments. For the Catholic, infused righteousness either gradually dissipates as the believer takes part in worldly sins or is enhanced by good works. If the believer dies without having the fullness of righteousness, coming in part from the last rites, he or she will temporarily spend time in purgatory until the sinful status is purged from his or her record.

http://www.theopedia.com/Imputed_righteousness

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 The Voice

17 Therefore, if anyone is united with the Anointed One, that person is a new creation. The old life is gone—and see—a new life has begun! 18 All of this is a gift from our Creator God, who has pursued us and brought us into a restored and healthy relationship with Him through the Anointed. And He has given us the same mission, the ministry of reconciliation, to bring others back to Him. 19 It is central to our good news that God was in the Anointed making things right between Himself and the world. This means He does not hold their sins against them. But it also means He charges us to proclaim the message that heals and restores our broken relationships with God and each other.

20 So we are now representatives of the Anointed One, the Liberating King; God has given us a charge to carry through our lives—urging all people on behalf of the Anointed to become reconciled to the Creator God. 21 He orchestrated this: the Anointed One, who had never experienced sin, became sin for us so that in Him we might embody the very righteousness of God.

Philippians 3:9-11  The Voice

⁹ When it counts, I want to be found belonging to Him, not clinging to my own righteousness based on law, but actively relying on the faithfulness of the Anointed One. This is true righteousness, supplied by God, acquired by faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Him inside and out. I want to experience the power of His resurrection and join in His suffering, shaped by His death, ¹¹ so that I may arrive safely at the resurrection from the dead.

Galatians 2:16-21 The Voice

16 But we know that no one is made right with God by meeting the demands of the law. It is only through the faithfulness of Jesus[c] the Anointed that salvation is even possible. This is why we put faith in Jesus the Anointed: so we will be put right with God. It’s His faithfulness—not works prescribed by the law—that puts us in right standing with God because no one will be acquitted and declared “right” for doing what the law demands. 17 Even though we are seeking a right relationship with God through the Anointed, the fact is we have been found out. We are sinners. But does that mean the Anointed is the one responsible for our sins? Absolutely not! 18 If I reconstruct something I have worked so hard to destroy, then I prove myself a sinner.

19 The law has provided the means to end my dependence on it for righteousness, and so I died to the law. Now I have found the freedom to truly live for God. 20 I have been crucified with the Anointed One—I am no longer alive—but the Anointed is living in me; and whatever life I have left in this failing body I live by the faithfulness of God’s Son, the One who loves me and gave His body on the cross for me. 21 I can’t dismiss God’s grace, and I won’t. If being right with God depends on how we measure up to the law, then the Anointed’s  sacrifice on the cross was the most tragic waste in all of history!

Leading Scottish business figure calls for currency Plan B | Better Together

Leading Scottish business figure calls for currency Plan B | Better Together

One of Scotland’s most respected business figures has said that Alex Salmond must come clean with a Plan B on currency.

Jack Perry is the former Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise, the agency responsible for supporting Scotland’s firms to compete at home and around the world.

He knows what he is talking about when it comes to creating jobs for Scotland. That’s why his intervention in the referendum debate is so significant.

Jack Perry has said that if Alex Salmond follows through on his hints, nods and winks to use the pound without a formal currency union in a separate Scotland, there would have to be big spending cuts on vital public services like our NHS and schools.

This is over and above the £6 billion in either tax rises or spending cuts that the impartial experts Institute for Fiscal Studies have said a separate Scotland would face in the years after separation, in addition to those taking place today.

That is half of our entire NHS budget. We can’t afford to put that at risk.

The currency we use is fundamental to everything that we do as a country.

How can we have any confidence about the future if we don’t know what money we would get our wages, pensions and benefits in?

The future of our schools and hospitals would be at risk if we don’t know what currency we would use to pay for them in an independent Scotland.

And how can families plan for the future when we don’t know what currency we would use to pay for energy and shopping bills if we leave the UK?

Train fares ‘will increase 25% in next four years’ unless funding rules are torn up: Labour call for cap on price rises and simplified ticket structure Daily Mail

  Rail fares are on course to soar by about a quarter over the next four years

  Will rise by up to 5.6% next year - total increase of 24% since last election

  Labour calling for reform of 'broken market' including capping of fare rises 

  Shadow Transport Secretary: 'Our rail fares are among highest in Europe'

Rail fares are on course to soar by a quarter over the next four years unless funding rules are torn up, Labour will warn today.

Official figures released this morning are expected to show that rail fares will rise by up to 5.6 per cent next year.

The Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) said this would take the total increase to 24.7 per cent since the last election.

And Shadow Transport Secretary Mary Creagh will warn that fares will rise by a further 24 per cent by 2018 unless existing rules are changed.

Although annual rail fare increases are implemented in January they are based on Retail Price Index figures from the previous July. Under current rules, regulated train fares will rise by RPI plus 1 per cent.

Read the full article here:

RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: Why the world is dying to come here, Daily Mail

The discovery of 35 desperate people inside a shipping container at Tilbury docks is a real-life horror story. Basic humanity requires that we give them medical treatment and temporary accommodation.

Clearly they have suffered a terrible ordeal. They were dehydrated and close to suffocation. One of them died on the voyage from Zeebrugge.

There were 13 blameless children among those packed into what has been described as a ‘metal coffin’. We can only imagine what they have endured on their 3,500-mile journey across continents.

They have been exploited and put in mortal danger by callous traffickers, who trade in human misery.

But they weren’t kidnapped. While the children are exempt from any responsibility for their plight, all the adults involved knew what they were getting into.

They voluntarily paid the traffickers to smuggle them into Britain. Typically, it costs £20,000 to get from Afghanistan to Zeebrugge and a further £1,500 for a passage to England. I’m assuming they weren’t expecting to be flown first-class to Heathrow.

We are told they are all Afghan Sikhs fleeing Taliban persecution and they were attracted here because of the ‘thriving and established Afghan Sikh community in London’. There is also a thriving Sikh community in India, right on Afghanistan’s doorstep. So why didn’t they flee there? I’m sure they’d be more at home in the Punjab than Putney.

Why didn’t they seek asylum in Russia, or Turkey, or any of the countries that they crossed en route to Zeebrugge?

Read the full article here:

Oswald Chambers, My Uttermost for His Highest, Self Awareness

Self-Awareness

Come to Me . . . —Matthew 11:28

Matthew 11:28-30 The Voice (VOICE)

28 Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Put My yoke upon your shoulders—it might appear heavy at first, but it is perfectly fitted to your curves. Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. When you are yoked to Me, your weary souls will find rest. 30 For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.

God intends for us to live a well-rounded life in Christ Jesus, but there are times when that life is attacked from the outside. Then we tend to fall back into self-examination, a habit that we thought was gone. Self-awareness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of our life in God, and self-awareness continually produces a sense of struggling and turmoil in our lives. Self-awareness is not sin, and it can be produced by nervous emotions or by suddenly being dropped into a totally new set of circumstances.

Yet it is never God’s will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. Anything that disturbs our rest in Him must be rectified at once, and it is not rectified by being ignored but only by coming to Jesus Christ. If we will come to Him, asking Him to produce Christ-awareness in us, He will always do it, until we fully learn to abide in Him.

Read the full article here:

"The revelation of God's will has been brought down to us in words. The Bible is not a book containing communications from God; it is God's revelation of Himself, in the interests of grace; God's giving of Himself in the limitation of words. The Bible is not a faery romance to beguile us for a while from the sordid realities of life; it is the Divine complement of the laws of Nature, of Conscience and of Humanity; it introduces us to a new universe of revelation facts not known to unregenerate common sense. The only Exegete of these facts is the Holy Spirit, and in the degree of our reception, recognition, and reliance on the Holy Spirit will be our understanding." --Oswald Chambers, in God's Workmanship from The Quotable Oswald Chambers.

Theology test your worship songs, Christianity Magazine

What happens when you put the lyrics of some of our best-known worship songs under the theological microscope?

We’ve all stood in a Sunday morning service, bleary-eyed from a late night, and submissively warbled our way through an entire worship set without engaging our brains. We could have been singing anything.

And we’ve all sung lyrics to worship songs we didn’t fully understand. A favourite at my own church is the hymn ‘I Will Sing the Wondrous Story’, which includes the repeated line, ‘Sing it with the saints in glory, Gathered by the crystal sea’. Despite the fact that I don’t know what this refers to – and it sounds strangely like the title of an episode of Dr Who – I gamely sing it every time.

Many of us have sung things we don’t actually believe. Matt Redman’s magnum opus ‘Blessed Be Your Name’ contains the questionable line ‘You give and take away’, which seems to suggest that God actively causes, rather than allows, suffering. But is this really the nature of the biblical God? The trouble is, it’s such a good song.

LYRICS COUNT

In a Church culture in which personal engagement with the Bible is sometimes patchy, worship songs and hymns become a primary source of theology for some. For others it is the most dynamic tool in terms of connecting with God. We pick up memorable bits of scripture (often a bit mangled to fit the verse structure), and larger principles about God through the lyrics of our Sunday anthems. So the accuracy of their theology really matters.

The other reason we should carefully consider our song lyrics is a missional one. If a non-Christian, with no prior knowledge of the faith or its traditions, walks into your church, what might (s)he make of singing ‘These are the days of Elijah’? It gets worse at Christmas. Every year we force nominal believers to sing ‘Christian children all must be, mild, obedient, good as he’, thus reminding them why they only come to church once a year.

Read the full article here:

Cameron accuses Salmond of being 'desperate' after claims independence will protect the NHS from privatisation Daily Mail.

  The Prime Minister said health is already devolved to Holyrood

  Mr Salmond said NHS cuts in England would be replicated in Scotland

  Scottish Government's spending on private contractors has risen by 25%

David Cameron has accused the First Minister of ‘desperate’ tactics over his claim that separation will protect the NHS from privatisation.

The Prime Minister stressed health is devolved to Holyrood and controversial changes at Westminster cannot be imposed on Scots.

Alex Salmond, who went green bowling in Arbroath with Scotland's Commonwealth medallists today, has argued that NHS budget cuts south of the border would be replicated in Scotland – despite the fact Holyrood has received an extra £1.3billion from Westminster over five years.

He has persisted with the argument despite claims of hypocrisy after it emerged the Scottish Government’s own spending on private contractors rose by almost a quarter last year to more than £80million.

Mr Cameron said: ‘Health is a devolved issue. So the only person who could, if they wanted to, introduce more private provision into the NHS in Scotland is Alex Salmond.

‘I think this is a desperate man recognising the argument is going away from him making a pretty desperate argument.

‘Actually because of the protection on NHS spending that the UK Government has given that we would not cut NHS spending while we have had to make difficult decisions elsewhere - that has actually made sure under the Barnett formula that money is available for Scotland as well.‘So I think that argument does not stack up at all.’

Read more here:

Manchester United 1 Swansea City 2: Garry Monk's men deserve much more credit after proving everybody wrong, South Wales Evening Post

IF Manchester United are as bad as we have been told since Saturday lunchtime, why did nobody give Swansea City a chance of beating them this weekend?

Because for all the weaknesses within this United side compared to the various top-class teams Sir Alex Ferguson put together, the current crop were still expected to have far too much power for Swansea.

No-one, as Garry Monk pointed out afterwards, thought his team would have a hope in hell of troubling United on the first day of their new era.

Swansea, therefore, deserve more credit than they have received for what goes down as one of their most famous victories regardless of United's current state.

Predictably, Swansea's first ever league triumph at Old Trafford has been met with minimal praise for them and maximum criticism for United.

Last season, David Moyes was carpeted every time the Red Devils dropped points, yet Gylfi Sigurdsson's late winner has not prompted flak for Louis van Gaal.

Read more here:

Travelodge removes Bibles from its rooms, The Christian Institute

The nationwide hotel chain Travelodge has removed Bibles from all of its rooms, in a move criticised by the Church of England.

Bibles provided free by the Gideons have been taken away for “diversity” reasons.

The removals took place after refurbishment work across the hotel chain, which replaced the drawers where Bibles were being kept.

‘Cultural vandalism’

In response, a spokesman for the Church of England said: “It seems both tragic and bizarre that hotels would remove the word of God for the sake of ergonomic design, economic incentive or a spurious definition of the word ‘diversity’”.

Writing on the Telegraph website, commentator Tim Stanley described Travelodge’s decision as “an act of cultural vandalism upon a tradition that goes back 126 years”.

A spokesman for Travelodge said: “The reason is because of diversity. With the country being increasingly multicultural, we didn’t feel it was appropriate to just have the Bible”

Read more here:

Further Reading here:

Travelodge removes the Bible from every room: No one had complained... but chain 'doesn't want to discriminate'  Daily Mail

Elim Superintendent John Glass @ Lakeside

I was greatly blessed and challenged, when I visited Lakeside Church, Southport to hear John Glass,  The General Superintendent of the Elim Pentecostal Church, on his recent visit to Southport.

Every Blessing

Blair Humphreys

Southport 

Sofa Car (Benny Hill Mix)

John Glass, Elim Pentecostal Church, General Superintendent, Cappuccino Communication, An Easy Yoke, Parts 1-3

Part 1










Part 2









Part 3

COMMENT: Desperate Alex Salmond will say ANYTHING to con Scottish voters, Daily Express

THE chances of a Yes vote for independence in the referendum next month may have receded slightly in the past week or so, but they remain worryingly real.

The pro–United Kingdom No campaign may have been bolstered by the victory of Alistair Darling over Alex Salmond in the television debate earlier this month, but they are taking nothing for granted.

Mr Salmond has already proved he is able to execute a last round burst to overtake an opponent seemingly cruising to victory; no one should forget the last Scottish parliamentary election when an expected Labour win was turned into a rout by the SNP.

In London, as here, the possibility of a last–minute surge by the Nationalists is being taken deadly seriously. It is unlikely the Better Together campaign or the UK Government is going to put a foot badly wrong within the next five weeks, but you can never tell.

And what is certain is that Mr Salmond and his deputy, Nicola Sturgeon, will become ever more outrageous in their wild promises of post–independence riches for all, a last–ditch tactic which will be coupled to their constantly voiced doomwatch scenario should we vote to stay in the UK.

There is no doubt that the Yes campaign is badly damaged, probably irrevocably. Even many of the most diehard Nationalists are all but conceding defeat and looking forward to what can be done about reviving their long campaign after September.

Read more here:

Came to My Rescue, Hillsongs United

Vicky Beeching: I'd like to enter a gay marriage

Vicky Beeching: I'd like to enter a gay marriage

Worship leader and theologian Vicky Beeching has told Premier Christianity she'd eventually like to find a same sex partner and get married.

The Christian singer came out as gay yesterday at the age of 35.

Speaking to Premier she said: "I think my goal is to find a soul mate and get married.

"God said it's not good that people are alone and obviously that's rooted in a passage that most people think defends heterosexual marriage only, but for me, I just think it's a principle that God wants us to be in community and he's made most of us, unless we're called to celibacy, to find that other person.

"I would want to find a person to marry in a way that Paul describes - laying down our lives for one another.

"Someone that loves God, that has a strong Christian faith, that I can serve and they can serve me.

"I think that's something I've always missed, having that comrade and partner to run through life with.

"I think I'm ready to find that."

In an extended interview with Premier she said she still identifies herself as an Evangelical Christian.

"I think for me, Evangelicalism is rooted in many things," she said.

"Loving the Bible, having a high view of scripture, having a passion for social justice and wanting to share the good news about Jesus.

Fears monarchy could be ditched by independent Scotland with Queen forced to send Australian-style Royal representative instead . Daily Mail

Experts fear independence could throw up divided loyalties for the Queen

Solution could be to appoint representative to act in the Sovereign's name

Claims Scotland may eventually ditch Royal family and becoming a republic

Comes amid growing support for independence ahead of September 18 vote

Support for independence up to 43% with 57% backing the Union

The Queen may be forced to appoint an Australian-style ‘governor general’ to rule in her name in Scotland if the country votes for independence next month, it has been claimed.

Constitutional experts fear independence could throw up divided loyalties for the Queen if there was a clash between Scotland and the rump-UK in the future.

One solution would be to appoint a ‘governor general’ in Edinburgh to act in the Queen’s name. This could lead Scotland to eventually ditching the Royal family and becoming a republic within the European Union, claim experts.

The claim comes as a new poll shows rising support for independence with just a month to go before the referendum on September 18.

A YouGov poll for the Times puts support for independence at 43 per cent, with 57 per cent backing the Union, once undecided voters are taken out.

Earlier this month just 39 per cent said they were preparing to vote Yes - with 61 per cent for No.

Scottish Nationalist leader Alex Salmond has insisted that the Queen will remain head of state in an independent Scotland.

But his party is split on the issue. The SNP’s John Mason yesterday called for a referendum to replace the Queen as head of state in Scotland.

He said: ‘The present queen is very popular, but the mood of society may change when she leaves the throne.’

Scotland Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has also raised the prospect this year of a referendum on the Royals. He said it was ‘for the people of Scotland to decide’ on the Queen’s role.

Read more here:

Further Reading:

Beyond the Scottish Independence Question, Looking at a Greater Devolution in The United Kingdom, A Perspective

Christian Singer/Worship Leader Vicky Beeching, says I'm Gay, Premier Christian Radio.

Worship leader and Christian commentator Vicky Beeching has opened up on her sexuality to a national newspaper.

The 35 year-old, who became known by performing at Christian festivals both in the UK and the US, says she's struggled with the issue her whole life but is now ready to go public.

Speaking to The Independent she explained how she first noticed her attraction to other girls at the age of 12.

She said: "Realising that I was attracted to them was a horrible feeling. I was so embarrassed and ashamed. It became more and more of a struggle because I couldn't tell anyone."

In the in-depth interview she talks about how she sought help to get rid of her same sex feelings firstly by going to confession with a Catholic priest then by asking for prayer at a large Christian event.

At the conference she said a group prayed over her that the demon of homosexuality would free her but she found the experience "degrading" and "humiliating".

Her career has seen her release several worship albums and tour the world but she exited the spotlight after being diagnosed with an auto-immune disease called linear scleroderma morphea.

Her condition required chemotherapy.

She was told by a doctor that it was stress induced and she believes her trigger was her battle with her sexuality.

It was a result of this part of her life that she vowed to tell friends and family.

Now a regular commentator on Christian issues on both TV and radio she says she's ready to let the world know and wants the Church to reconsider the way it views homosexuality.

Read more here:

Question:

Should Churches and Christians listen to and sing to Vicky Beeching’s songs since her public  announcement  that she is lesbian ?  My answer is no

Read the article in the Independent here:

Vicky Beeching, Christian rock star: 'I'm gay. God loves me just the way I am'

Comment:

Although like many of you, I have sing along to Vicky Beeching songs in various Church Settings,   I’m saddened to hear that she is claiming to be Gay(Lesbian) ,  the Bible clearly states that homosexuality and a homosexual lifestyle is both a sin and sinful, and there are no scriptures that support, encourage and confirm that the homosexual lifestyle  is a choice for the Christian, I’m sorry the Bible clearly states that you can’t be a Christian and Gay, the choice is yours,  but you can’t be both. Homosexuality is Sinful, anyone who lives this lifestyle or supports this lifestyle... the Bible is clear you need to repent of your sin.

1 Timothy 1:9-11The Voice (VOICE)

9 we also know the law was not designed for law-abiding people but for lawbreakers and criminals, the ungodly and sin-filled, the unholy and worldly, the father killers and mother killers, the murderers, 10 the sexually immoral and homosexuals, slave dealers, liars, perjurers, and anyone else who acts against the sound doctrine 11 laid out in the glorious, holy, and pure good news of the blessed God that has been entrusted to me.

1 Corinthians 6:8-10New American Standard Bible (NASB)

8 On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren.

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators,  nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor [a]effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Romans 5:16 -21 The Voice

16 His free gift is nothing like the scourge of the first man’s sin. The judgment that fell because of one false step brought condemnation, but the free gift following countless offenses results in a favorable verdict—not guilty. 17 If one man’s sin brought a reign of death—that’s Adam’s legacy—how much more will those who receive grace in abundance and the free gift of redeeming justice reign in life by means of one other man—Jesus the Anointed.

18 So here is the result: as one man’s sin brought about condemnation and punishment for all people, so one man’s act of faithfulness makes all of us right with God and brings us to new life. 19 Just as through one man’s defiant disobedience every one of us were made sinners, so through the willing obedience of the one man many of us will be made right.

20 When the law came into the picture, sin grew and grew; but wherever sin grew and spread, God’s grace was there in fuller, greater measure. No matter how much sin crept in, there was always more grace. 21 In the same way that sin reigned in the sphere of death, now grace reigns through God’s restorative justice, eclipsing death and leading to eternal life through the Anointed One, Jesus our Lord, the Liberating King.

Romans 6:1-12 The Voice

6 How should we respond to all of this? Is it good to persist in a life of sin so that grace may multiply even more? 2 Absolutely not! How can we die to a life where sin ruled over us and then invite sin back into our lives? 3 Did someone forget to tell you that when we were initiated into Jesus the Anointed through baptism’s ceremonial washing,[a] we entered into His death? 4 Therefore, we were buried with Him through this baptism into death so that just as God the Father, in all His glory, resurrected the Anointed One, we, too, might walk confidently out of the grave into a new life. 5 To put it another way: if we have been united with Him to share in a death like His, don’t you understand that we will also share in His resurrection? 6 We know this: whatever we used to be with our old sinful ways has been nailed to His cross. So our entire record of sin has been canceled, and we no longer have to bow down to sin’s power. 7 A dead man, you see, cannot be bound by sin. 8 But if we have died with the Anointed One, we believe that we shall also live together with Him. 9 So we stand firm in the conviction that death holds no power over God’s Anointed, because He was resurrected from the dead never to face death again. 10 When He died, He died to whatever power sin had, once and for all, and now He lives completely to God. 11 So here is how to picture yourself now that you have been initiated into Jesus the Anointed: you are dead to sin’s power and influence, but you are alive to God’s rule.

12 Don’t invite that insufferable tyrant of sin back into your mortal body so you won’t become obedient to its destructive desires

Be Thou My Vision, Christian Classics

English version by Eleanor Hull, 1912[edit]

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,

Be all else but naught to me, save that thou art;

Thou my best thought in the day and the night,

Both waking and sleeping, thy presence my light.

Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word,

Be thou ever with me, and I with thee Lord;

Be thou my great Father, and I thy true son;

Be thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one.

Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight;

Be thou my whole armour, be thou my true might;

Be thou my soul's shelter, be thou my strong tower:

O raise thou me heavenward, great Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise:

Be thou mine inheritance now and always;

Be thou and thou only the first in my heart;

O Sovereign of Heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of Heaven, thou Heaven's bright sun,

O grant me its joys after victory is won!;

Great heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

Still be thou my vision, O Ruler of all.

Some verses from the modern Irish version

Bí Thusa ’mo shúile a Rí mhór na ndúil

Líon thusa mo bheatha mo chéadfaí ’s mo stuaim

Bí thusa i m'aigne gach oíche ’s gach lá

Im chodladh no im dhúiseacht, líon mé le do ghrá.

Bí thusa ’mo threorú i mbriathar ’s i mbeart

Fan thusa go deo liom is coinnigh mé ceart

Glac cúram mar Athair, is éist le mo ghuí

Is tabhair domsa áit cónaí istigh i do chroí.

10,000 Reasons CAMPFIRE - Rend Collective

My Uttermost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers, Do not despise the Discipline of the Lord, Daily Devotionals

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him —Hebrews 12:5

It is very easy to grieve the Spirit of God; we do it by despising the discipline of the Lord, or by becoming discouraged when He rebukes us. If our experience of being set apart from sin and being made holy through the process of sanctification is still very shallow, we tend to mistake the reality of God for something else. And when the Spirit of God gives us a sense of warning or restraint, we are apt to say mistakenly, “Oh, that must be from the devil.”

“Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), and do not despise Him when He says to you, in effect, “Don’t be blind on this point anymore— you are not as far along spiritually as you thought you were. Until now I have not been able to reveal this to you, but I’m revealing it to you right now.” When the Lord disciplines you like that, let Him have His way with you. Allow Him to put you into a right-standing relationship before God.

Read more here: