I Trust In Jesus

Before this body turns to dust
Before this world I leave
Upon The Lord I’ve placed my trust
Upon The Rock I’ll cleave

I’ve placed my trust in Jesus Christ
God’s Son of flesh and bone
The innocent Lamb sacrificed
I trust His word alone

I trust He chose for man to die
Then rose again to reign
That as God’s Seed He’d multiply
His flock when born-again

I trust His blood can cleanse the soul
I trust His blood can save
His very name can make us whole
And save us from the grave

I trust in Jesus’ loving care
I trust He bore my shame
I trust the love He came to share
Remains today the same

I trust the pardon Jesus bought
Can save this wretch from hell
I trust Salvation’s true report
My Saviour had to tell

Although the devil’s out to harm
Though Satan, he’s out to kill
I trust my Lord’s almighty arm
I trust His righteous will

I trust my life to Christ The Lord
I trust in Heaven’s Door
I trust in God’s Almighty Sword
I’ll trust Him evermore…

Michael P. Johnson


Testimony of Michael P. Johnson:
All praise and glory to The Living Lord; God and Jesus Christ my soon coming King.
Born a sinner saved by grace. I first truly began going to church at the tender age of 46 years 10 months. After six wonderful life changing months. After thoroughly reading the Bible and believing it from front to back true! I was born-again through the precious blood of my personal Saviour Jesus Christ. After accepting that He is who He & God’s Word (Bible) says He is. I further can testify that The Lord God Jesus Christ LIVES.

For even as an insignificant wretch that I was, six times I personally audibly heard the voice of The Living God. Once The Father, four times Jesus; the Holy Spirit once. Always distinct audible. Though each time was different some lengthy, others short. Countless other times in diverse ways I have recognised God speaking to me. So now I can never doubt that The Godhead well & truly lives! ! !

The Weaver

I had this poem written on my birthday card sometime in 1992. The author was 'unknown'; yet I searched in the net for some authorship to this poem; I am not sure I found some, because the second part of this poem is attributed to B.M. Franklin. But the first part was different in the original version. But here it is, just as I received it.

Behind our lives the Weaver stands
And works His wondrous will;
We leave it in His all-wise hands
And trust His perfect skill.
Should mystery enshroud His plan
And our short sight be dim;
We will not try the whole to scan -
But leave each thread to Him.

Not until the loom is silent
And the shuttle ceases to fly
Will God unroll the batten
And explain the reason why
The dark threads were as needful,
In the Weaver's skillful hand,
As threads of gold and silver;
For the pattern He has planned.

- Unknown

The Battle of the Self

Oh, the bitter shame and sorrow,
That a time could ever be
When I let the Saviour's pity
Plead in vain, and proudly answered:
'All of self, and none of Thee'

Yet He found me: I beheld Him
Bleeding on the accursed tree;
Heard Him pray, "Forgive them, Father",
And my wistful heart said faintly:
'Some of self and some of Thee'

Day by day, His tender mercy,
Healing, helping, full and free,
Sweet and strong, and oh, so patient,
Brought me lower, while I whispered:
'Less of self and more of Thee'

Higher than the highest heaven,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered;
Grant me now my soul's desire:
'None of self but all of Thee'

- Unknown

When I became a Christian by Adrian Plass

Blog-frogging (if I may use that word), which I do by pressing "NEXT BLOG>>" tab in the Blogger menu, has its advantages...You do come across some good blokes out there with their well-written blogs and interesting stories to tell. But what do you do when the post is really something that you liked but is copied (with credits, of course!) from some other blogger? I thought, if the article deserved a wide audience, why not post it again (with original credits, of course) into your own blog? Here's one such extract from a really GOOD poem by Adrian Plass...

When I became a Christian I said, Lord, now fill me in,
Tell me what I’ll suffer in this world of shame and sin.
He said, your body may be killed, and left to rot and stink,
Do you still want to follow me? I said Amen - I think.
I think Amen, Amen I think, I think I say Amen,
I’m not completely sure, can you just run through that again?
You say my body may be killed and left to rot and stink,
Well, yes, that sounds terrific, Lord, I say Amen - I think.

But, Lord, there must be other ways to follow you, I said,
I really would prefer to end up dying in my bed.
Well, yes, He said, you could put up with the sneers and scorn and spit,
Do you still want to follow me? I said Amen - a bit.
A bit Amen, Amen a bit, a bit I say Amen,
I’m not entirely sure, can we just run through that again?
You say I could put up with sneers and also scorn and spit,
Well, yes, I’ve made my mind up, and I say, Amen - a bit.

Well I sat back and thought a while, then tried a different ploy,
Now, Lord, I said, the Good book says that Christians live in joy.
That’s true he said, you need the joy to bear the pain and sorrow,
So do you want to follow me, I said, Amen - tomorrow.
Tomorrow, Lord, I’ll say it then, that’s when I’ll say Amen,
I need to get it clear, can I just run through that again?
You say that I will need the joy, to bear the pain and sorrow,
Well, yes, I think I’ve got it straight, I’ll say Amen - tomorrow.

He said, Look, I’m not asking you to spend an hour with me
A quick salvation sandwich and a cup of sanctity,
The cost is you, not half of you, but every single bit,
Now tell me, will you follow me? I said Amen - I quit.
I’m very sorry Lord I said, I’d like to follow you,
But I don’t think religion is a manly thing to do.
He said forget religion then, and think about my Son,
And tell me if you’re man enough to do what he has done.

Are you man enough to see the need, and man enough to go,
Man enough to care for those whom no one wants to know,
Man enough to say the thing that people hate to hear,
To battle through Gethsemane in loneliness and fear.
And listen! Are you man enough to stand it at the end,
The moment of betrayal by the kisses of a friend;
Are you man enough to hold your tongue, and man enough to cry?
When nails break your body-are you man enough to die?

Man enough to take the pain, and wear it like a crown,
Man enough to love the world and turn it upside down,
Are you man enough to follow me, I ask you once again?
I said, Oh Lord, I’m frightened, but I also said Amen.
Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen; Amen, Amen, Amen;
I said, Oh Lord, I’m frightened, but I also said, Amen.

- Adrian Plass

The final Apologetic by L.T. Jeyachandran

If there’s a message that the Lord has been speaking to me over many years it is the crucial aspect of what it means to be a Christian community.

What Jesus would say to his disciples the closing evening before he would be arrested and tried is of such importance in our understanding what it means to be Christian. I’m beginning to see that is it not what it means to speak christianly per se, but rather, to be Christians. Jesus said in John 13:34, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” The old commandment was from Leviticus 19, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Now here, Jesus raises the bar and says, the standard of your love for one another will not be your love for yourself; it’ll be my love for you: “As I have loved you, you must love one another.”

If you read John 13 through 17 in one sitting, you will see that the bookend chapters are different in many ways. John 13 is an active parable of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. John 17 is Jesus’s prayer to the Father. Here we are afforded one of the most sacred episodes of eavesdropping as we listen to a conversation within the Trinity. John 14 through 16 is centralized teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit. But the middle chapters can never be detached from John 13 and 17, where the Holy Spirit is not mentioned by name. We begin to see that Jesus is sharing with the disciples something that is part of the being of God. Then in John 15:9, Jesus says again, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” In other words, the standard of love for us within the body of Christ is the standard by which the Father loves the Son.

As we listen to Jesus speak to his Father in these chapters, we discover the important doctrine of God that is so special to Christians. It is significant to note that the doctrine of the Trinity did not come to us either by philosophical or theological speculation. Rather, it comes to us by three historic encounters: God at the foot of Mt. Sinai, God on the dusty streets of Palestine in Jerusalem, God in the Upper Room. Are there three gods? No. Because if there is more than one God, each of those gods would necessarily be limited. Is it one person playing three roles? After all, we hear one person speaking to another. We hear the Son speaking to the Father, the Father speaking to the Son. We heard the Son referring to the Holy Spirit as another person. But no—not three gods, not one person playing three roles.

Thus the only obvious, inescapable conclusion: here are three persons, who in some amazing, mysterious way constitute one God. And their relationship is going to be the standard by which our love for one another would be measured.

In the country of my birth, India, I have often shared the gospel with Hindus and Muslims. And of course, you need to have an apologetic for them when you ask them to follow Christ because you are calling them out of a community. Hindus and Muslims have very strong communities. I’m now discovering in the Asia Pacific that Buddhism is also an equally strong community. But when you ask them to follow Christ, are you inviting them into a community or are you calling them out of their communities into a vacuum?

To be a part of the body of Christ is about constructing such communities. That’s exactly what Jesus is saying here in John 13-17. The demonstration of the reality of the Trinity, in the final analysis, is not going to be theological; it is going to be experiential. It has to be demonstrable. It has to be seen and felt by people that they would know that we belong to Christ.

The only way people will know that you are my disciples, says Jesus, is to demonstrate it, not individually, but by your relationships—for there can be no real apologetic without a community of love and relationships. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” After we have given all the arguments, the defenses and the evidences, this indeed is the final apologetic.

(L.T. Jeyachandran is executive director of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Singapore.)

True Tomorrow

Another Look at Matt. 7: 21-23

It is night! The lights are gleaming

Endless desires and dark dreaming

Let moths flutter in colored vanity

Then return to dust and gloom!

When the sunbeams come out shining

Precious hopes; daylight dawning

In the land of true tomorrows

Will the butterflies dance and bloom

- David Nesaraj

No Greater Friend!

A minister passing through his church
In the middle of the day,
Decided to pause by the altar
And see who had come to pray.

Just then the back door opened,
A man came down the aisle,
The minister frowned as he saw
The man hadn't shaved in a while.

His shirt was shabby, old
And his coat was worn and frayed,
The man knelt, he bowed his head,
Then rose and walked away.

In the days that followed,
Each noon-time came - this chap,
He knelt down just for a moment,
A lunch pail in his lap;

Well, the minister's suspicions grew,
With robbery a main fear,
He decided to stop the man and ask him,
"What are you doing here?"

The old man said he worked down the road;
Lunch was half an hour
Lunchtime was his prayer time,
For finding strength and power

"I stay only moments, see,
Because the factory is so far away;
As I kneel here talking to the Lord,
This is what I say:"

"'I just came again to tell You, Lord,
How happy I’ve been,
Since we found each other's friendship…
And You took away my sin'

'Don't know much of how to pray;
But I think about you everyday.
So, Jesus, this is Jim,
Checking in today'"

The minister feeling foolish,
Told Jim that that was fine.
He told the man he was welcome
To come and pray just anytime.

“Time to go”, Jim smiled and said
"Thanks"; he sped to the door.
The minister knelt at the altar,
He'd never done it before.

His cold heart melted, warmed with love,
Met with Jesus there…
As the tears flowed, in his heart -
He repeated old Jim's prayer:

"I just came again to tell You, Lord,
How happy I’ve been,
Since we found each other's friendship…
And You took away my sin"

"Don't know much of how to pray;
But I think about You each day.
So, Jesus, this is me,
Checking in today"

Past noon one day, the minister noticed
That old Jim hadn't come.
As more days passed without Jim,
He began to worry some.

At the factory, he asked about him,
Learning he was ill.
The hospital staff were worried;
But he'd given them a thrill.

The week that Jim was with them,
Brought changes in the ward
His smiles, a joy contagious;
Changed people - were his reward.

The head nurse couldn't understand
Why Jim was so glad,
When no flowers, calls or cards came -
Not a visitor he had.

The minister stayed by his bed,
He voiced the nurse's concern:
No friends came to show they cared
He had nowhere to turn.

Looking surprised, old Jim spoke up
And with a winsome smile;
"The nurse is wrong, she couldn't know,

That in here all the while"

"Everyday at noon; He's here,
A dear friend of mine, You see,
He sits right down, takes my hand,
Leans over and says to me:"

'"I just came again to tell you, Jim,

How happy I have been,

Since we found this friendship…

And I took away your sin."
"Always love to hear you pray,

I think about you every day;

And so Jim, this is Jesus,

Checking in today"

- Author Unknown