84 Sermon Illustrations on Protection

Jesus didn’t just die for my sins, he lives for me. In fact, he is at God’s right hand claiming me as his own (see 1 John 2:1-2). If he was willing to die to save me, what will he withhold now that he lives victorious over death?

Holy and Righteous Father, I thank you for Jesus, who is at your side and knows my heart, struggles, and world. I thank you for your constant care and protection through all of my difficulties and triumphs. Please make your presence known more clearly today than ever before as I try to serve you with wholehearted devotion. Through Jesus I pray. Amen.

1. Like a river glorious is God’s perfect peace,

Over all victorious in its bright increase;

Perfect, yet it floweth fuller ev’ry day,

Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way.

Chorus:

Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest–

Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

2. Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,

Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;

Not a surge of worry, Not a shade of care,

Not a blast of hurry, Touch the spirit there.

3. Ev’ry joy or trial falleth from above,

Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love;

We may trust Him fully All for us to do–

They who trust Him wholly, Find Him wholly true.

[Tune “Wye Valley”]

When I was growing up, my brother and sister and I used to pull the dining room chairs into the living room, drape them with sheets and blankets, and spend the morning in the secrecy of our homemade tent. We would do the same thing at the swimming pool, pulling together deck chairs and draping them in beach towels to create a “secret” place. There is something about the shelter of a homemade tent that made me feel safe; perhaps it is linked to the young child's mistaken belief that if he can't see, he can't be seen. Or perhaps there is something deep inside us that links being hidden with being protected.

I love the psalms that speak about God hiding his people. In Psalm 27, David writes, “For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in his tabernacle; in the secret place of his tent He will hide me” (Psalm 27:5, NASB). We read in Psalm 91, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge” (v. 4a, NIV). I imagine being covered by God's “wings” to be something like finding a hiding place in a great, spreading magnolia tree from which you can see those who are hunting for you, but you can't be seen by them.

God goes far beyond this as a living shelter for us. Being sheltered by Him is like being sheltered by another person in a tornado or a bombing. A mother is a living shelter who hides and protects the baby in her own womb. God is not an inanimate tent; He is a person. He converses with us, reassures us, comforts us with his words even as He hides us from our enemies. When we hide in his shelter, along with protection we receive friendship. In times of loneliness and despair, this can be the most vital form of protection we need.

Of course, when my siblings and I built our homemade tents, we really were not hiding from my parents or anyone else. (In fact, we were making ourselves fairly obvious.) We cannot hide from God any more successfully than a child can hide from her parents in a living room tent. David writes, “If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,' even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you” (Psalm 139:11-12, NIV). Just as there is security in being hidden by God, there is security in not being able to hide from Him. No matter how we try to isolate ourselves from Him or hide behind our sin, he will find us. Although a child who has done something wrong may try to hide from his mother by avoiding eye contact or crawling under his bed, the mother recognizes this and finds him; she restores the relationship. She pulls him from his hiding place and instead hides him where he is meant to be, in her embrace.

And so, when we feel like hiding from God, we should instead come to Him and ask Him to hide us. Though we may be guilty and undeserving, we can pray as David prays in Psalm 17, “Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings” (vv. 7-8).

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Copyright © 2004 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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And Jabez ,called on the ‘God of Israel, saying, Oh, that thou wouldest … keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested. — 1 Chronicles 4:10.

After this manner therefore pray ye … Deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. — Matthew 6 9, 13.

We give thanks often with a tearful, doubtful voice, for our spiritual mercies positive; but what an almost infinite field there is for mercies negative! We cannot imagine all that God has suffered us not to do, not to be. — F. R. Havergal

Lord, for the erring thought not into evil wrought;

Lord, for the wicked will betrayed and baffled still,

For the heart from itself kept, our thanksgivings accept.

Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. — Matthew 16:18.

Between the Fall and the Devil’s Hole at Niagara there is a fair stretch of comparatively placid water, and an apparently insignificant little steamer named, The Maid of the Mist plys daily between the Bridge and the Fall. She never enters the Fall, neither does she ever drift down stream into the Devil’s Hole. That little Maid of the Mist suggests to our mind “the church of the living God!” She has passed through all the perplexing “mist” of this closing dispensation, and she need never fear the world’s fall, nor approach the Devil’s Hole. When things are darkest, God is nearest. The church’s extremity is Christ’s opportunity. “He that shall come will come.” — T. Baird.

Through tribulation hasten on,

with Christ the cross is sweet;

The little while will soon be gone,

keep only at His feet.

Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? — Job 1:10.

Perhaps this passage suggests three hedges — an outer, a middle and an inner. The outer included Job’s possessions, taking in cattle, real estate, and so forth. The middle one embraced his family and household. The inner hedge protected righteous Job personally.

The believer is kept both spiritually and physically by several hedges. In connection with the former we have a mighty interceding Christ for us in Heaven and a mighty interceding Holy Spirit within us. Through these two present mighty ministeries we are being preserved from spiritual breakdowns and a renouncing of our faith because of testings. Then, too, there is the “hedge” of the daily reading of and the meditation of the Word of God. By this we are kept from the paths of the destroyer (Psalm 17:4).

Job’s preservation, however was on the physical level, and so is ours. God’s angels serve as ministering spirits to minister to the heirs of salvation (Heb. 1:14). Sometimes this HEDGE IS REMOVED AND THE FOE ALLOWED TO ATTACK WITH VIOLENCE “for our profit.” But ultimately,

I’ll bless the hand that guided,

I’ll bless the heart that planned,

When throned where glory dwelleth

in IMMANUEL’S land.

Isaiah 37: God Answers Hezekiah’s Prayer in Promise and In Deed

The cast:

(1) Hezekiah — the faithful

(2) His privy council: Eliakim, Comptroller; Shebna, adjutant-general; Joah, secretary of state

(3) Sennacherib

(4) the Rabshekah — chief-of-staff of Assyrians — the accuser

(5) Isaiah — God’s appointed prophet

(6) Yahweh, the Lord God — delivering His own

The prelude, Chapter 36

• the Rabshekah’s propaganda

° seeks to undermine their confidence

° calls on them to change sides

• the responses

° the people keep silence in obedience to the king

° the privy council: discouraged

° Hezekiah: discouraged and penitent

37:1-7: Hezekiah and Isaiah

• what are the signs of Hezekiah’s faith?

° sackcloth, a sign of penitence, as ruler of a sinful people

° his going into the house of the Lord

° his constraining sackcloth on the elders of priests, the spiritual leaders of a sinful people

° his enquiring of God’s appointed prophet, Isaiah

° based his prayer / entreaty on God’s honour being attacked

° obedience; belief that God will hear

• What are God’s promises (through Isaiah) in response?

° assurance for Hezekiah

° do not be afraid (Christ’s words)

° ‘I have heard their blasphemy’

° ‘blast’ a spirit, to replace Sennacherib’s proud, brave, fearless spirit

° a rumour (probably of threats aginst his ruling)

° Sennacherib to return home

° punishment by the sword in his own land

37:8-13: Reiteration of Rabshekah’s threats by Sennacherib’s letter

37:14-20: Hezekiah’s Prayer of Faith – what are its notable elements?

• spreading the problem before the Lord

• Sennacherib’s words a reproach, not to Israel or Hezekiah, but of the Lord

• recognizes power of the enemy

• recognizes difference between gods and the Lord

• bases prayer on God’s glory and honour

37:21-38 God Acts on Behalf of His People — read 2 Chronicles 32:1-21

The Destruction of Sennecherib Lord Byron

Thy Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,

And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;

And the sheen of their spears was like the stars on the sea,

When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,

That host with their banners at sunset were seen:

Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,

That host on the morrow lay withered and strown,

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,

And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;

And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill

And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still!

And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,

But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;

And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,

And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,

With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:

And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,

The lances unlifted, the trumped unblown.

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail

And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;

And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,

Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

37:21-35 His Message to Sennecherib

22-25 The Young Helpless Girl (Zion) Laughs at the Soldier

• centre of the scorn is that this enemy should deign to speak evil of the LORD (23)

• the reason for the scorn (24,25)

° depends on multitude of his chariots

° thinks his puny will is marvellous

° thinks his past successes were his own

26-29 God’s Evaluation of the Enemy

• the Ancient, Creator is not disturbed by man

• the Assyrians were but his tool (26)

• the other defeated foes were defeated by God’s power, not Assyria’s (27)

• God has full knowledge of the enemy (28)

• God will domesticate this proud horse (29)

30-35 God’s Promise to Hezekiah and Jerusalem

• they will continue to dwell in and to harvest the land (30)

• He’ll preserve, establish His remnant (31,32)

• Sennacherib

° will not come against this city (33)

° will return by the way he came (34)

° will be defeated by God Himself (35)

37:36-38 His Defeat of Sennecherib

• 185,000 soldier’s ‘wake up dead!’

• Sennacherib returns to Nineveh

• two of his sons slay him in HIS temple, a third reigns In his stead

Jeris Bragan knows firsthand that prison is a dreadful place to be – he was sentenced to life in a Tennessee prison for first-degree murder (later overturned). Prison is especially hard for young men who are small in physical stature. They’re easily victimized by the predatory bullies who roam every prison like a pack of wild animals in search of fresh prey.

Bragan was surprised one day when he saw two young brothers, both small in stature, fearlessly walking the prison yard. When he asked another prisoner why nobody ever bothered them, the man laughed: “Have you ever seen their father?”

Their father was a tough mountain man from East Tennessee who intentionally got himself arrested and sent to prison so he could look after his sons. He didn’t baby them; he expected them to conduct themselves like men. But he also let it be known that anybody who attacked his sons would have to deal with him -- “up close and personal!”

After three years, the father was paroled and left his sons behind. But they were safe: Nobody doubted the father would come back -– in a hurry! -– if his sons needed him.

The remarkable, self-sacrificing father reminds Bragan of God. We’re all “prisoners,” trapped in a world of powerful, threatening opponents. But in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God the Father has joined us in our “prison” to help us fight and defeat those opponents.

Many Americans give the Bible lip-service but never crack it open. In the movie “American Sniper” the hero, Chris Kyle, goes to church as a kid and keeps a Bible in the pocket next to his heart during combat. Another soldier challenges him - do you ever actually read it? Chris’s fallen face shows that he doesn’t.

Kyle’s autobiography gives a more nuanced answer. He writes, “I’m not the kind of person who makes a big show out of religion. I believe, but I don’t necessarily get down on my knees or sing real loud in church. But I find some comfort in faith, and I found it in those days after my friends had been shot up. Ever since I had gone through [SEAL] training, I’d carried a Bible with me. I hadn’t read it all that much, but it had always been with me. Now I opened it and read some of the passages. I skipped around, read a bit, skipped around some more. With all hell breaking loose around me, it felt better to know I was part of something bigger.”

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Adapted from "Here's the faith in the 'American Sniper' you won't see in the film," Sarah Pulliam Bailey, January 14, 2015; .

An accident reinforces importance of freedom, advocacy, and prayer.

EDITORS’ NOTE: On Saturday, Oct. 14, Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board missionary Stanley Stamps of Prentiss, Mississippi, was driving from Santa Rita to El Progreso, Honduras, when his car struck and killed a pedestrian. Stamps drove to the police station and then spent the weekend in jail while an investigation cleared him of wrongdoing. In the following first-person account, Stamps recalls the horror of the accident, the uncertainties of being jailed and the ways God used the situation to draw people closer to himself. His wife, Glenna, is from Hillsboro, Texas.

EL PROGRESO, Honduras (BP) – Each time I pass by that spot on the highway, images of what happened there flash through my mind.

I remember my headlights picking up the vague form of a man walking along the highway’s center stripe. I hit the brakes. He staggered into my lane. He was so close I couldn’t avoid striking him. I remember a dull thud as he flew into my windshield. The car screeched to a halt, and the motor died. I saw his body sprawled in the middle of the highway.

Stunned, I got out of my car. The man was dead. My car was badly dented and the windshield cracked. The last two passing vehicles ignored my appeals for help. It was late and the highway was abandoned.

What was I to do? Many in Honduras would have driven on, and the newspapers would have reported a hit-and-run death. In the daylight, a driver might be killed by infuriated family or neighbors. The thought of jail was frightening. If I turned myself in, what would the authorities do? How would my friends and acquaintances react? I fought the urge to run.

Suddenly, I felt calm. I knew the Lord was beside me, and I knew I had to report the accident.

After pulling the body to the side of the road, I drove to the police station. The officer on duty was reading a Bible. I explained what had happened, and he had me drive him to alert the coroner and judge, and we went to the scene of the accident. The body was where I had left it. When the investigation was complete, they loaded the body in my car and had me drive it to the morgue.

The victim, a 65-year-old widower, was a “campesino” (peasant farmer) who lived with his only surviving son in a community near El Progreso. Later I learned the man had been spotted by someone else earlier the same night staggering — apparently drunk — down the middle of the road.

Back at the police station, I was placed in detention and called my wife, Glenna. My quarters was a conference room where another man was being detained for similar reasons. My bed was a bench made out of wooden slats. Although outwardly composed, my nerves were shattered, and I tried to find a sleeping position on the hard wooden bench.

Early the next morning, Glenna called a couple of missionary colleagues to activate our prayer chain, then brought me breakfast. (Honduran jails don’t provide meals.) Then she went on to Santa Rita for Sunday school. Later that morning a friend who is a retired police captain came to visit and assured me the problem would be solved in a day or two. I had an opportunity to give New Testaments to my “cellmate” and his wife and watched as he read God’s Word for the very first time.

After church services were over, a group from Bethany Church in El Progreso came to visit. One of them, a seminary extension student of mine, offered to be my lawyer. Before they left, we stood in a circle and they prayed for my well-being and quick release. It was profoundly moving to be surrounded by a group of people I knew loved me and whom I loved.

A group from Mount Calvary Church followed them. The pastor, whom we had seen accept Christ 12 years earlier, read Psalm 103. I sensed this was the Scripture passage I needed most.

That afternoon, Glenna brought fellow missionary Frank Harrison, who had substituted for me in Sunday school and worship. Later missionaries Tom and Susan Canady and Ken Cummins came by. It was comforting and encouraging to feel the support and concern of my missionary colleagues. I learned later that Glenna received dozens of phone calls from people who were concerned about me.

While I was eating, our electrician came to visit. He is not a believer, but when members of the accident victim’s family came to see me, he became my intercessor and personally went with the family to select a casket. He even paid for the casket and advanced some money for burial expenses. (Honduran custom expects people in my situation to pay the burial expenses of the victim.) After I was released, I visited him and repaid the loan. I was grateful for the strength of friendship bonds that form over the years.

Sunday afternoon a large delegation from the Santa Rita church came to see me. They told me the incident had caused them to reflect on the “Experiencing God” lesson about the body of Christ we had studied together Saturday evening before the accident.

What had impressed them most, however, was that I had turned myself in to the police. Every one of them knew most people would have driven away from the accident. The fact I had done the right thing said more to them than any number of sermons or lessons could have.

Monday morning the other detainee and I were taken to court in a pickup truck. While we waited, a group of men — members of the dead man’s family — came in. My lawyer brought them over to me, and I explained the circumstances of the accident. They seemed satisfied when I told them my car was insured for cases like this and accepted my offer of New Testaments. I was relieved, because many times accidents like this lead to perpetual vendettas and vengeance killings.

I waited at the courthouse all morning and through the judge’s three-hour absence at lunchtime. But a little after 3 o’clock, my lawyer emerged from the judge’s office, and I walked out of the court a free man. I had a greater appreciation for what it means to be free. I also had a better understanding of what it means to have an advocate. My lawyer friend had been by my side and intervened for me at every turn of events.

All that afternoon and the next day the telephone rang with calls from concerned colleagues and friends, both local and overseas. The prayer networks had been alerted at the Foreign Mission Board and in my home state of Mississippi. Later, letters from numerous friends and prayer supporters began stacking up.

I am profoundly grateful for the extensive network of prayer partners who daily pray for foreign missionaries. I know from personal experience what it means to be the object of concern in someone’s prayers.

Those prayers are not in vain. I am deeply grateful to everyone for holding me up in prayer. I am grateful to God for his deliverance from evil and for his constant strengthening presence.

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Copyright (c) 1995 Baptist Press

A missionary on furlough told of this experience while visiting his home church in Michigan:

While serving at a small field hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. This was a journey of two days and required camping overnight at the halfway point. On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city where I planned to collect money from a bank, purchase medicine and supplies, and then begin my two-day journey back to the field hospital. Upon arrival in the city, I observed two men fighting; one of whom had been seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries and at the same time witnessed to him of the Lord Jesus Christ. I then traveled two days, camping overnight, and arrived home without incident.

Two weeks later I repeated my journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was approached by the young man I had treated. He told me that he had known carried money and medicines. He said, "Some friends and I followed you into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we saw that 26 armed guards surrounded you.

"At this I laughed and said that I was certainly all alone out in that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the point, however, and said, "No sir, I was not the only person to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we all counted them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left you alone."

At this point in the sermon, one of the men in the congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he could tell him the exact day that this happened. The missionary told the congregation the date, and the man who interrupted told him this story:

"On the night of your incident in Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so strong; I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for you. Would all of those men who met with me on that day stand up?" The men who had met together that day stood up. The missionary wasn't concerned with who they were -- he was too busy counting how many men he saw. There were 26.

[Another source gives this credit: "Anonymous---Submitted to Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul by Murray Moerman"]

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TruthorFiction.com makes these comments at http://truthorfiction.com/rumors/twentysixarmedguards.htm -

This is one of the most widely circulated stories on the Internet. We've never been able to get close to a first-hand source for it, but there are other, similar stories for which there are sources.

Overseas Missionary Fellowship, which is named in the rumor, says this version about an African missionary is not from among them because they don't minister in Africa. They are in East and Southeast Asia.

One of the most widely-circulated versions of this eRumor states that the origin is a man named Steve Huffman. He's received requests from all over the world asking for substantiation of the event, but never intended to be regarded as the source for the story. He was given the story at church and posted it on an email list and it circulated from there. He says he has no first-hand validation for the account.

Here are some of the stories for which there are sources:

... In her book "The Spirits of Mindoro" published in 1988 by Overseas Missionary Fellowship, Catherine Davis talks about a woman who worked in the jungle on Mindoro Island in the 1950's. She was sleeping alone in her house one night when she heard men outside talking about killing her. She prayed for protection and the men suddenly grew quiet, then ran away. The next day a woman from the village said that the men did not carry out their plans because of two large people dressed in white who were standing on each side of the path to the house.

...Dr. Billy Graham relates a story in his book "God's Secret Agents" about missionary John Paton and his wife in The New Hebrides. It is said that one night they were surrounded by hostile natives who wanted to kill them. They prayed through the night for protection and at daylight, saw that the attackers were leaving. A year later, the chief of the tribe of the attackers became a Christian and Paton asked him about the night of the attack and why nothing had happened. The chief was surprised and said it was because of all the men who were there protecting them, hundreds of them in shining garments and with drawn swords. [see HolwickID #10810]

Variations:

...The missionary is speaking at his home church in Michigan.

...The missionary hears of a planned attack on a village by bandits and gathers everybody in a school building for safety. The bandits approach the school, but then turn away because they see guards with fiery swords protecting the school.

And Jabez ,called on the ‘God of Israel, saying, Oh, that thou wouldest … keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested. — 1 Chronicles 4:10.

After this manner therefore pray ye … Deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. — Matthew 6 9, 13.

We give thanks often with a tearful, doubtful voice, for our spiritual mercies positive; but what an almost infinite field there is for mercies negative! We cannot imagine all that God has suffered us not to do, not to be. — F. R. Havergal

Lord, for the erring thought not into evil wrought;

Lord, for the wicked will betrayed and baffled still,

For the heart from itself kept, our thanksgivings accept.

1. Blessed be the name of the Lord,

Blessed be the name of the Lord;

Blessed be the name of the Lord Most High!

Blessed be the name of the Lord,

Blessed be the name of the Lord;

Blessed be the name of the Lord Most High!

Chorus

The name of the Lord is a strong tower;

The righteous run into it, and they are saved.

The name of the Lord is a strong tower;

The righteous run into it, and they are saved.

2. Glory to the name of the Lord,

Glory to the name of the Lord;

Glory to the name of the Lord Most High!

Glory to the name of the Lord,

Glory to the name of the Lord;

Glory to the name of the Lord Most High!

3. Holy is the name of the Lord,

Holy is the name of the Lord;

Holy is the name of the Lord Most High!

Holy is the name of the Lord,

Holy is the name of the Lord;

Holy is the name of the Lord Most High!

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The Holwick family loves to take camping vacations in the American West, and a favorite destination is Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone is filled with wildlife and always provides opportunities for seeing them up close.

In June 2008 they were driving their RV south down the road from Mammoth Hot Springs. A car was stopped on the road ahead of them – nothing unusual in Yellowstone and usually a sign that animals were in view. The animals turned out to be a tight group of buffalo, right in the middle of the road. The calves were all in the middle, and the older animals formed a circle around them with their horns aimed outward.

The Holwicks soon found out why - a large gray wolf was circling them. As everyone took pictures, the wolf soon scampered off. But the buffalo wouldn’t budge. Eventually they began to amble down the road, still bunched together. Buffalo amble at around 2 miles per hour. They wouldn’t turn off into the woods on the one side or a meadow on the other because the wolf might be there. All fifty of them just kept walking down the road in a bunch. About 80 cars followed them.

An 18-wheeler truck for Xantera, the concession company in Yellowstone, decided he wanted to get home. He passed the line of cars on the left and drove right up to the herd, inches away, trying to intimidate them. The bison didn’t care. They just kept ambling. For 40 minutes. At least everyone got lots of photos, and no buffalo calves were eaten.

Togetherness has its benefits! What animals do by instinct, humans can do by choice. Stick together as a family, or as a church, and it is hard for dangers to penetrate.

Uncontrolled crime (eight times the murder rate of New York City) and a huge wealth disparity (most people either fabulously rich or appallingly poor, with few in the middle) have caused the 1 million wealthiest residents of Sao Paulo, Brazil, to protect themselves by living in 300 gated communities (and have caused some to avoid the city's crime and squalor by traveling exclusively by helicopter), according to a June Washington Post dispatch. About 4,000 people a year without helicopter access armor-plate their cars at twice the price of the car. One walled community (Alphaville) houses 30,000 people, protected by 1,100 armed guards who keep the grounds under constant surveillance and pat down the servants as they head home from work.

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Jesus didn’t just die for my sins, he lives for me. In fact, he is at God’s right hand claiming me as his own (see 1 John 2:1-2). If he was willing to die to save me, what will he withhold now that he lives victorious over death?

Holy and Righteous Father, I thank you for Jesus, who is at your side and knows my heart, struggles, and world. I thank you for your constant care and protection through all of my difficulties and triumphs. Please make your presence known more clearly today than ever before as I try to serve you with wholehearted devotion. Through Jesus I pray. Amen.

1. Like a river glorious is God’s perfect peace,

Over all victorious in its bright increase;

Perfect, yet it floweth fuller ev’ry day,

Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way.

Chorus:

Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest–

Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

2. Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,

Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;

Not a surge of worry, Not a shade of care,

Not a blast of hurry, Touch the spirit there.

3. Ev’ry joy or trial falleth from above,

Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love;

We may trust Him fully All for us to do–

They who trust Him wholly, Find Him wholly true.

[Tune “Wye Valley”]