Greatly oppressed since I was young
My enemies persecute
ECHO
Greatly oppressed since I was young
My enemies persecute
They plowed my back and dug in deep
But have not overcome.
The Lord is good Who set me free
Their cords He has cut off.
May all who hate Jerusalem
Be turned back in defeat
As useless as the withered grass
Half-grown and good for naught
May all who see them never say,
“May God bless you today.”
© J Dan Small
“What? Are you giving up? Is it that bad?”
No, but the Lord wants me to let you know that He has heard your many petitions, He’s on it and will take it from here.
“So, we don’t need to pray for you, then?”
Actually, I need you to pray even more fervently, “wrestle in prayer” if you have to, that God’s FULL PURPOSE for me will be accomplished!! -that NOTHING and NO ONE (including me) would get in His way!
“But how are you doing, really?”
As Paul says in 2 Cor. 4, “the outward man is wasting away but the inward man is renewed day-by-day.” My body continues to grow weaker but I’ve never felt more strongly the Presence and burden of the Lord.
“And what about your healing?
God’s Spirit has borne witness in me that complete healing is GUARANTEED! How, when, and where are questions to which He simply replies, “My supernatural infusion of grace is yours and that is all you need today.” (2 Cor 12:8-10)
Join me in thanking the One who does all things well!
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed . . . ” 2 Corinthians 9:8
You might appreciate the insights I’ve appropriated from T. Austin-Sparks. I put it in a recent blog post: https://jdansmall.com/category/toward-wholeheartedness/
What blessings fill the lives of all who fear the Lord
By walking in His ways, great joy is your reward.
The work you do will prosper
And your wife a fruitful vine
Like olive trees in blossom
‘Round your table kids recline
Oh, what blessings come to everyone who fears His name
Countless treasures and rewards are theirs to claim.
The Lord bless you out of Zion
May you prosper all your days
May you see your children’s children
As you walk in all His ways
May shalom be on God’s people
As they fix on Him their gaze.
© J Dan Small
I subscribe to the daily devotional thought from T. Austin Spark’s library. Today’s was written to me, for me, about me.
By dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:6 NIV)
Service begins with separation from the world, emancipation from the kingdom of this world, but it is a very thoroughgoing thing. Oh, that the church would recognize this, that God’s last word about this matter of emancipation and separation is “there shall not a hoof be left behind” (Ex. 10:26). You see, Moses’ service was a very thoroughgoing service, and it went that far, that not a hoof was left behind, and that is service to God. “See that the people are utterly out, and there is no link remaining.”
Do remember that service is always governed by this: a deep inward separation. It is not enough for us to come out from the world and become parts of the people of God. Something more than that is necessary. The whole self-life in us has got to be definitely dealt with, and a great separation has to take place there. The impulsive, hot, fiery Moses has to become the quiet, patient, meek Moses… learning, perhaps above all things, meekness and patience. What a discipline of those forty years (tending sheep in the wilderness) of self-emptying. Presently when he really enters upon his life’s work, his life service, one of the things that he will need most will be patience, and there is nothing more calculated to produce patience than the discipline of inaction. We do not learn patience when we can keep busy, when we can gratify all our impulses by doing something. But when we are not allowed to do anything, when we are cut off from ministry and work and service, and shut up to the discipline of inaction and the discipline of delay, God is preparing for better service than we would ever have fulfilled otherwise.
Unless the Lord builds the house
The builders work in vain
Unless the Lord guards the city
The sentries watch in vain.
Why do you work from dawn to dusk
In hopes of having food to eat?
When God will meet your deepest needs
And give you rest.
And don’t resent having children
They’re a gift from the Lord
Like arrows in a warrior’s quiver
You’ll be glad you had a lot
And when the enemy confronts you
You will not be ashamed
Because the fruit of the womb is a reward.
© J Dan Small
The Lord has done great things for them
When He restored them to their Land
They thought it was a dream.
The Lord has done great things for us
With laughter and great shouts of joy
True gladness is our theme.
Restore our fortunes, Lord, again
As rivers make the deserts bloom
Turn Winter into Spring.
Weeping we go out scatt’ring seeds
But we shall reap with shouts of joy
At harvest-time we’ll sing.
© J Dan Small
Those who trust in the Lord
Like Zion stand secure
By trusting Adonai
They ever shall endure.
The Lord surrounds His people
Like mountains ‘round Jerusalem
Shielding the righteous dwelling place
So wickedness can’t rule them.
Do good, O Adonai, to the upright in heart
But banish all who turn aside to their own crooked ways
Remove all evil from our midst
Give peace to Israel all her days.
© J Dan Small
If the Lord had not been for us
If the Lord weren’t on our side
Then when enemies attacked us
They’d have swallowed us alive
Waves of fury and of anger
Like flood-waters o’er our head
Surely they would overwhelm us
And all Israel would be dead.
Bless the Lord who came to rescue
Would not let us be their prey
As a bird escapes the fowlers
We’ve escaped and got away.
Our help comes from the Lord above
Who made the heavens and earth
In Yahweh’s name we find our help
We will declare His worth.
© J Dan Small
We look to You, O God,
enthroned in heav’n above
With anxious, waiting gaze,
The master’s humble slaves
Look to the guiding hand
What is Your next command?
We turn our eyes to You
For mercy and for love.
Have mercy, Adonai
Our soul has had its fill
The proud with mockery
Make our lives misery
They boast and mock and scoff
Refusing to back off
We need Your mercy, Lord,
Our troubled souls to still.
I was glad when to me they did say,
“Let us go to the house of Yahweh.”
Here we stand, Jerusalem, house of David and the Lord
At your gates all the tribes closely bound in one accord
Giving thanks to the Lord as decreed
Through the judgment halls of David we proceed
We will pray for the peace of Jerusalem
For protection and prosperity for all of them
For the sake of friends and family we pray
“May you know true peace in your home today.”
For the sake of Your house Yahweh Elohenu
I will pray that prosperity and good accrue.
I was glad when to me they did say,
“Let us go to the house of Yahweh.”
© J Dan Small
Finally, then . . . 