In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek, more earnestly, His face.
"Twas He who taught me thus to pray,
And He, I know, has answered prayer!
But it has been in such a way,
As almost drove me to despair.
I hoped that in some favored hour,
At once He'd answer my request;
And by His love's constraining pow'r,
Subdue my soul, and give me rest.
Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
Let all the angry pow'rs of hell
Assault my soul in every part.
Yea more, by His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my hopes, and laid me low.
Lord, why is this, I trembling cried,
Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?
"'Tis in this way, the Lord replied,
I answer prayer for grace and faith.
These inward trials I employ,
From self, and sin, to set thee free;
Blast all thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may'st find thy all in Me."
3 comments:
“This poem was written by John Newton, author of "Amazing Grace." He was once an infidel and slave trader. By the mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, he was saved and called to preach the Gospel which he had formerly tried to destroy.” – From today’s Bible Pathway devotional.
For those who have a problem with the name "Jesus" please read the article, Is the Name 'Jesus' derived from the Greek god 'Zeus'? at torahtimes.org
[bottom line: No, it is not!]
Excerpt:
.....First, there are many faithful believers in Yeshua who have used the name "Jesus" and who are saved, and who are not worshipping a false God. There are also many who believe in "another" Jesus who is not the Jesus of the Bible. But also, we who know Yeshua, know that there are many who follow "another" Yeshua, who is not the "Yeshua" of the Bible. I believe that some of the Torah movement Gentiles who say they believe in Yeshua are really not His followers. Why do I say this? Because they condemn Christians who say "Jesus" and they disrespect it wherever they go, thereby demonstrating that they do not understand the gospel of mercy. "Jesus" is an incorrect pronunciation, but it is not worthy of disrespect either, and those who use it must not be made to feel guilty of transgression for a mere mistake of pronunciation.
The Origin of the Name Jesus
Let's look at the origin of 'Jesus' for a moment. Jesus is derived from Middle English (A.D. 1066) and then is derived from Old English and then is taken from Late Latin (A.D. 300-700) and then is taken from Greek and then is taken from Hebrew, 'Yeshua,' 'Yehoshua' (The American College Dictionary) with abbreviations expanded.
First the Jerusalem Congregation mandated the use of the nomina sacra devices, so that all early Papyri or MSS used it. By this the Hebrew words were meant. Then in the 4th century, scribes who no longer knew or cared about the Nazarene use of the Name expanded the devices into normal Greek. This then got translated into Late Latin as 'Iesu,' and then into Old English as 'Jesus,' but the 'J' was still pronounced like the German 'J,' i.e. it had a 'Y' sound as 'J' still has in German to this day. The terminal 's' owes its existence to the final 's' of the nominative case in Greek. The removal of the 'sh' sound from the second syllable of Yeshua is due to the fact that Greek does not have an 'sh' sound. The waw sound 'oo' in the second syllable was impacted by the French Normans who invaded England in 1066 c.e. So also the 'J' sound, which after 1066, began to be hardened to the French 'J' which is the origin of the Modern English 'J'. The end result is a word 'Jesus' which cannot be recognized as 'Yeshua.'......
Very informative article!
The article mentioned above has been updated at the torahtimes.org site. Fonts can easily be downloaded at the site to view the astonishing information about the nomina sacra (referring to the Hebrew names/titles) in the early Greek manuscripts. I will post a link at "Interesting Webpages."
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