happy Christmas & new year!

here are some thoughts...

from a hymn:
my times are in Thy hand,
my God, I wish them there,
my life,
my friends,
my all
I leave entirely to Thy care.

and

nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to Thee,
e'en tho' it be a cross that raiseth me.
still all my song shall be, nearer my God to Thee,
nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee...

though like a wanderer, the sun gone down,
darkness be over me, my rest a stone,
yet in my dreams I'd be, nearer my God to Thee...

so let the way appear, steps unto heaven,
all that Thou sendest me, in mercy given,
angels to beckon me, nearer my God to Thee...

and

lead kindly Light, amid th'encircling gloom
lead Thou me on!
the night is dark, and I am far from home,
lead Thou me on!
keep Thou my feet, I do not ask to see
the distant scene, one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus nor prayed that Thou
shouldst lead me on.
I loved to choose and see my path but now
lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and spite of fears,
pride ruled my will,
remember not past years.

so long Thy power hath blessed me
sure it still will lead me on,
o'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent till
the night is gone.
and with the morn, those angel faces smile,
which I have loved long since and lost awhile.

Phil. 3:13-14
"... one thing I do:
forgetting what is behind
and straining on toward what is ahead,
I press on
to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward
in Christ Jesus."

SOME FACTS ABOUT OSWALD CHAMBERS (1874-1917)
taken from Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God by David McCasland.

-his parents were saved by hearing Charles Haddon Spurgeon speak.

-speaking of Oswald Chambers, someone said, "He was full of the Holy Ghost and that was the secret of his happy service. He was absolutely free from worry, living what he liked to call 'a restlessly restful life.'"

-had a "childlike confidence in God"

-one of his early prayers: "O Lord, drench us with humility"

-Oswald wanted to know of the Holy Ghost and his power, but knew little of it. Was he holding something back from God? He wrote to Chrissie saying he felt compelled by God to go solitary, for the time being, and shut himself up alone to God and his studies. 'I hear the imperative command of my own inner soul', he told her, 'cut every tie and wait.' Shall I obey or disobey? ... it was what he sensed as a definite call of God. That gave them courage, but didn't lessen the pain for either of them. Oswald had renounced his ambitions in art and had now cut the cords of his relationship with Chrissie. If there was anything else he loved ahead of God, he was ready to place it on the altar as well. But the power and presence of God did not come after his renouncements. He became more aware of his own sinfulness than before... Oswald continued his cheerful outward appearance while one by one his hopes and dreams were being put to death. Some he laid willingly on the altar while others seemed to be snatched from him by the hand of God. In either case, the pain of heartbreak and loss felt the same. The most severe was the end of his long relationship with Chrissie.... The decision came from Oswald as a cross-bearing sacrifice he felt compelled to make in order to follow Christ completely.

-one of his favorite songs was O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go.

an excerpt from Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest that I read this morning:

YESTERDAY
DEC. 31 in My Utmost for His Highest
by Oswald Chambers

Isaiah 52:12 "The God of Israel will be your rereward." (in NIV the whole verse says, "But you will not leave in hast or go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard")

Security from Yesterday. "God requireth that which is past." At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise from remembering the yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God's grace is apt to be checked by the memory of yesterday's sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future. God reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present.

Security for Tomorrow. "For the LORD will go before you." This is a gracious revelation, that God will garrison where we have failed to. He will watch lest things trip us up again into like failure, as they assuredly would do if He were not our rereward (rear guard). God's hand reaches back to the past and makes a clearing-house for the conscience.

Security for Today. "For ye shall not go out with haste." As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, unremembering delight, nor with the flight of impulsive thoughtlessness, but with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities which will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ.

Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him.

Marks of Welsh Revival: (from welshrevival.com)
1- confession of all known sin
2- deal with & get rid of anything "doubtful" in your life
3- be ready to obey the Holy Spirit instantly
4- confess Christ publicly
These seem to be healthy marks of a Christian who is heeding God's call, whether in the midst of a revival or not.