William Cowper
(1731-1800)
The Spirit breathes upon the Word,
And brings the truth to sight;
Precepts and promises afford,
A sanctifying light.
A glory gilds the sacred page,
Majestic, like the sun:
It gives a light to every [continue reading…]
Charles Wesley
(1707-1788)
Come, O Thou Prophet of the Lord,
Thou great interpreter divine,
Explain Thine own transmitted word;
To teach and to inspire is Thine.
Thou only canst Thyself reveal,
Open the book and loose the seal!
Whate’er the ancient prophets spoke
Concerning [continue reading…]
Charles Wesley
(1707-1788)
Inspirer of the ancient seers,
Who wrote from Thee the sacred page,
The same through all succeeding years;
To us, in our degenerate age,
The spirit of Thy Word impart,
Breathe the life into our heart.
While now Thine oracles we read
With earnest prayer and strong desire,
Oh, let Thy [continue reading…]
J.S.B. Monsell
(1811-1875)
Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight with all thy might;
Christ is thy strength, and Christ thy right.
Lay hold on life, and it shall be
Thy joy and crown eternally.
Run the straight race through [continue reading…]
John Wright Follette
(1884-1966)
I do not know the depths of mystery
Far hidden in the fact that Christ was born;
God only asks that we by faith receive
The mystery brought forth on Christmas morn.
To fully know would rob us of our faith,
Our hearts demand some food beyond the mind.
So let us feast [continue reading…]
16 December 2021
Dear friend,
In the weeks leading up to Christmas it seems especially true that “there aren’t enough hours in the day.” My usual habit is to arise between 4 AM and 5 AM in order to study and write. During the last several weeks, in those “wee hours,” I have been meditating on and “Greeking out” in the story of Gabriel’s visit to Mary in Luke 1:26-38. My heart’s desire has been to gain a deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit’s role in true New Birth.
I have come away awed at the “newness” of an “old thought” — the Logos Himself became a partaker of our human nature (Hebrews 2:14) so that we might become partakers of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). There’s been no need for an alarm clock to [continue reading…]
A joyous Christmas to all!1Every year the number of our Finest of the Wheat Christmas-related posts grows. Here, all in one place, is a quick list of what is available on our site at the moment.
Our resources consist primarily of Bible studies focused on various aspects of the story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, as well as poems, hymns, and carols celebrating Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.
John Wright Follette
(1884-1966)
I love the things eternal
That Christmas time reflects,
Simple things as old as God
That only faith detects —
The Holy Child and manger,
Eternal Love come down
To dwell in human mangers,
And man’s redemption crown.
I love the star still gleaming
Through all the earthborn night,
Still guiding hearts who seek Him —
Of all the world, the Light.
I love the [continue reading…]
John Wright Follette
(1884-1966)
For unto us is born…
…the Prince of Peace
Isaiah 9:6
The hills are still standing where shepherds were watching
Their flocks ’neath the stars of a heaven hung low,
Where angelic choirs brought music celestial
Whose echoes still reach us though sung long ago.
The shepherds believing the message thus brought them
Made haste to the manger and found resting there
The Word, now [continue reading…]
Copyright © 2021
from the manuscript of
The Curious Corners of Christmas
by
Jim Kerwin
Would you have done as well as Matthew?1Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to introduce readers to the glorious Christmas Incarnation story (never mind starting the entire New Testament!) with a genealogy? A genealogy! Really? It’s like putting a pre-converted, bah-humbugging Ebenezer Scrooge in charge of Christmas party activities, like putting the Grinch, still pinched with “a heart two sizes too small,” in charge of gift distribution.
Who thought it was a good idea to start with a genealogy? Well, the Apostle Matthew did, for one. And he did so under the Divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, so God thought [continue reading…]
John Wright Follette
(1884-1966)
Once again the Christmas season
Finds our hearts in eager quest.
Tired of all the world may offer,
We would find a deeper rest.
Bethlehem, the prophets tell us,
Is the birthplace of God’s Son,
If we find Him and [continue reading…]
24 November 2021
Dear Friend,
I am a writer, so I think about words a lot. Perhaps worse, I am a language student, spending time each day learning and reviewing Spanish, New Testament Greek, and biblical Hebrew. Occasionally while talking to someone, my wires get crossed and I can’t pop out the appropriate English word, because the equivalent Spanish or Greek or Hebrew word sets up a lingual roadblock in my brain. Sometimes those “roadblock words” and phrases are better or richer than their English counterparts. I submit to you two of those: acción de gracias (from Spanish) and [continue reading…]
Public Domain (with exceptions)1
Unto You will I cry, O Lord my rock;
be not silent to me:
lest, if You be silent to me,
I become like them that go down into the pit.
—Psalm 28:1 kjv—
Isaiah ReidHave you not gone oftentimes to the post office or waited anxiously for the postman, and failed to get the letter you anticipated? Your heart could not quit its sighing for hours. Perhaps this has lengthened out into weeks, till hope dropped exhausted, and the heart grew dazed and dead. Unexpected, undesired silence is awful. We can bear many other grievances better than silence where we expected speech. “She would not speak to me!” My! How the very thought wrenches the heart strings! How the very feet drag along the way, and the hands forget their skill2—so quickly does the physical respond to the spiritual.
The cold lips in [continue reading…]
13 October 2021
Dear friend,
Remember last newsletter when I casually asked you to send along any prayer requests you might have? I remember for sure because — overnight! — my daily prayer list grew by almost 30 people. So September 2021 became special because of the extended, focused concentration on prayer.
Most of the new names on the prayer list were of those suffering from the coronavirus, some hospitalized, a few in intensive care. One brother had to be re-admitted both to the hospital and to ICU. Thankfully, he’s home again. But for one sister, [continue reading…]
This will be a short ‘n’ sweet newsletter,
Part of our goal in spiritual warfare is to pray
