By Maria Fontaine
Here are some beautiful words that we can offer as love gifts to Jesus. You've probably sung them many times, but let's do something different this time, and I'll read them instead. I know for me personally, when I change things around and do them differently, it often has more impact on me.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
Sweetest name I know!
You fill my every longing,
You keep me singing as I go! (1)
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My Jesus, I love Thee,
I know Thou art mine!
For Thee all the follies
Of sin I resign!
My blessed Redeemer,
My Savior art Thou!
If ever I loved Thee,
My Jesus, 'tis now! (2)
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Spirit of the living God,
Fall afresh on me!
Break me, melt me,
Mold me, use me,
Spirit of the loving God,
Fall afresh on me! (3)
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Your name is wonderful,
Your name is wonderful,
Your name is wonderful,
Jesus my Lord!
I bow down before Thee,
I love and adore Thee,
Your name is wonderful,
Jesus my Lord!
You're the Great Shepherd,
The Rock of all ages,
Almighty God Thou art!
I bow down before Thee,
I love and adore Thee,
Your name is wonderful,
Jesus my Lord! (4)
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You, Lord, paid it all,
All to You I owe,
Sin had left a crimson stain,
You washed me white as snow! (5)
We give You glory, Lord! You dwell in the praises of Your people. You inhabit the praises of those who love You! (6) We give You glory! We love You, Jesus! You lifted us out of the miry clay and out of the pit, and You put our feet on the Rock! (7) You've done everything for us. We exalt Your name, Jesus! We love You, Lord! Thank You for Your love! Thank You for Your care!
Help us to praise You more, to give You the glory that You deserve, the glory that is due Your name. Help us to honor You before the people, before each other. It's all You, Jesus! Everything that we accomplish, everything good that we do, we attribute to You, Jesus! We're nothing, and You're everything!
When we turn our eyes upon You, Jesus,
And look full in Your wonderful face,
The things of this world grow strangely dim
In the light of Your glory and grace! (8)
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All to You, Lord, I surrender
All to You I freely give!
I will ever love and trust You,
In Your presence daily live!
I surrender all! I surrender all!
All to You, my precious Savior,
I surrender all! (9)
Help us, out of love for You, to surrender our all to You, Lord, to yield every single place in our heart to You, to give You everything that You require, because we love You, Lord! Give us more love for You. Help us to give You the love and honor and obedience that You deserve. You've given Your all for us, how can we do any less for You?
Thank You for our precious co-workers, fellow disciples, and fellow Christians, who love You so much, who have sacrificed so much for You. But in one sense it's not a sacrifice, because all these things that we've gone through and given up for You are nothing compared to what You have done for us!
Thank You, Lord, for our brothers and sisters in the faith. Thank You for their love and their loyalty and their dedication to You! Thank You, Jesus, for each one of them and what a wonderful blessing it is to be co-workers in Your kingdom and laborers together in Your vineyard.
Thank You for each of them. Please help them through all the things that they may be going through, the trials and the battles. We know that the difficulties are just another step in our growth, in our maturing, in our gaining more knowledge and wisdom and the ability to 'comfort others with the comfort wherewith we are comforted.' (10) Please help those who are going through hardship to hold on, Lord, and to persevere, to look to You, knowing that You'll not fail and You will give the answer. You want us to trust You and to look to You and to have faith and to learn things along the way that we couldn't learn if You gave us an immediate answer, if You let up too early, if You rescued us prematurely.
So help us to hold on. Help us to even delight in afflictions, in adversities, in the tests that we face, knowing that they're for our good, and we're going to benefit from them. There's definitely something valuable in it for us. Because of Your love for us, Lord, You won't let anything happen to us that You're not going to bring something very special out of--something good that will be good for us and good for Your work, good for Your kingdom, and good for others as well.
We know that You've blessed us and You'll continue to bless us as we hold on and persevere and give You our all, Lord! Thank You for the wonderful victories that have been won in our lives already. Some of these victories may not seem like big things, but in each case they've been important to us and to You, Lord.
We know that if You've given us the victory in one thing, You can do it again, and we know You're going to, Lord, as we look to You and hang on to You and see that the victory is in sight, by faith! Even if we can't always see the victory with our physical eyes, we can see it with our eyes of faith because You've promised it. We know by experience, Lord, so many, many times, over and over, how You've never failed us. You always answer, Lord, so we know You're going to do it again!
Help each of us to draw closer to You! Help us not to get so wrapped up in our work that we don't realize the importance of being close to You, being intimate with You, being lovers with You! Everything else is good and necessary, but we shouldn't leave the other undone--our relationship with You. We need to maintain that close communication with You and that intimacy, that love relationship with You that we can't go wrong in, dear Husband. We can be assured that everything else will fall into the proper place as long as we keep close to You.
Help us to keep ever mindful of that and to persevere in our relationship with You. In human relationships, it takes a while to build a solid, enduring one. It's the same in our relationship with You: we need to get to know You, we need to learn to have communication with You, we need to iron out the problems on our end through our yieldedness and obedience and submission, in order to have a clear channel with You. But when we do, the thrills and the joys and the results will be better than we can imagine!
Give us the desire for that contact with You, the desire to put You first and to pursue You and our relationship with You! Thank You that You love us and that You want to be with us and You want to hear us whisper sweet things to You too, just as You say such loving things to us. So help us to learn that and to mature into that and to give You the love that You desire and want from us, not only expecting You to give us what we desire from You!
Give us love for You that can't be stopped, can't be dissipated, can't be disrupted, but that will be steady and solid! No matter what, Lord, whatever happens, we ask that our love for You will be maintained, and that it will result in love for others as well.
1 Bart Millard
2 William R. Featherston
3 Daniel Iverson
4 Audrey Meier; adapted
5 Elvina Hall; adapted
6 Psalm 22:3
7 Psalm 40:2
8 Helen H. Lemmel; adapted
9 Judson W. Van Deventer and Winfield S. Weeden; adapted
10 2 Corinthians 1:4
