Held By Your Love Lord
Now Think On This
Steve Martin
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor other
heavenly rulers, neither what exists nor what is coming, neither powers above
nor powers below, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from
the love of God which comes to us through the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.” (Romans
8:38-39, Complete Jewish Bible)
There was a time, with so many great memories, when I was completely
inspired by Integrity Music’s Hosanna! Music series. Every other month,
beginning in 1987, they came out with a worship cassette (and then it was CDs) with
music that just captured my heart, and my listening ear, every time. As many of
you may have done yourself at times, like I did with these, you would wear out your
favorite cassette, just by playing it over and over again. (But now with MP3,
that won’t happen!)
In 2001 Integrity published a CD by Bob Fitts, a worship leader whom I
had heard before, on previous albums. This one was entitled I Will Bow To You. The 11th
song was “I’m Held By Your Love”, written by Karen Lim. For this song Bob is
joined by his wife Kathy as they sang it live at their home church, New
Creation Church, in Singapore. What an
amazing song! (The lyrics can be found below, and a link to the song itself is
added, so you can listen to it on our ministry blog.)
The opening verse clearly speaks of our Lord’s love for us. If
ever you have doubted this, just keep listening over and over to these words,
and let them swell up in your heart.
I’m held by Your love,
upheld by Your strength. On your shoulders You bore me, by Your faith I stand. Cherished
by You Lord, treasured in Your sight, so close to Your heart, held firm in Your
hand.”
Every now and then, more now than “then”, you need to be
reminded of the simple fact that our Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, loves you
more than you can comprehend. The very fact that He came, lived the life on
earth to be as us, suffered a cruel torture, was crucified in death, and then
rose again from the grave that could never hold Him, to prove that He alone is the
Awesome God we serve. Because of that historical fact, we can know His love for
us will be eternally upheld.
“By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do
for us — set us right with him, make us fit for him — we have it all together
with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our
doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open
his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand
— out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and
shouting our praise.
There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when
we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop
passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered
steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert
expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the
contrary — we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God
generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and
doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial
death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves
ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do
anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we
can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless
sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in
sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.
Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial
death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at
odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on
friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we're at
our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his
resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship
with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing
and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!” (Romans 5:1-11, THE
MESSAGE)
Drawing near to Him, in quiet meditation and a time set apart to
experience this love, will enable you to experience His strength, goodness, and
lovingkindness daily in your walk with Him.
Read the lyrics. Listen to the song. Let the love of the Father
draw you close to Him.
Now think on this,
Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People, Inc.
I’m Held By Your Love
- written by Karen Kim
I’m held by Your love, upheld by Your strength
On your shoulders You bore me, by Your faith I stand
Cherished by You Lord, treasured in Your sight
So close to Your heart, held firm in Your hand [Repeat once]
On your shoulders You bore me, by Your faith I stand
Cherished by You Lord, treasured in Your sight
So close to Your heart, held firm in Your hand [Repeat once]
So awesome is Your love
So mighty is Your hand
On eagle’s wings You carry me
Your grace shall be my strength
So perfect is Your love
You sacrificed Your Son
Amazing love reached out to me
With joy to You I come
So mighty is Your hand
On eagle’s wings You carry me
Your grace shall be my strength
So perfect is Your love
You sacrificed Your Son
Amazing love reached out to me
With joy to You I come
Not by my wisdom, not by my strength
Gently You guide me, lead me by hand
Total surrender, Jesus I am Yours
Now and forever, in Christ I now stand
Gently You guide me, lead me by hand
Total surrender, Jesus I am Yours
Now and forever, in Christ I now stand
So awesome is Your love
So mighty is Your hand
On eagle’s wings You carry me
Your grace shall be my strength
So perfect is Your love
You sacrificed Your son
Amazing love reached out to me
With joy to You I come [repeat 2x]
So mighty is Your hand
On eagle’s wings You carry me
Your grace shall be my strength
So perfect is Your love
You sacrificed Your son
Amazing love reached out to me
With joy to You I come [repeat 2x]
I’m held by Your love, upheld by Your strength
On your shoulders You bore me, by Your faith I stand
On your shoulders You bore me, by Your faith I stand
Author: Karen Lim,
© 2001 Integrity's Hosanna! Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing (IMI)) , Integrity's
Hosanna! Music, Capitol CMG
Publishing (IMI)
Listen here: I'm
Held By Your Love with Bob & Kathy Fitts
We are blessed when the ministry receives gifts to support
the families that we do, primarily in Israel, India, Pakistan and the hurting
ones here in the USA. You also can share out of the abundance you have been
given.
Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian
organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.
If these messages minister to you, please consider
sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us
bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our
humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt
for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.
Click here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING
THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major
credit cards: Love
For His People. If you don't have a
PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where
available).
Contribution checks can be sent to:
Love For His People, Inc. P.O. Box414
Pineville, NC 28134
Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)
Please share Now Think On This with your
friends.
Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com
martinlighthouse@gmail.com
Facebook pages: Steve Martin and Love
For His People
Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople
Now Think On This - In the New Year of our Lord 03.12.16 -
#250 –“Held By Your Love Lord” – Saturday
at 8:30 am
All previous editions of Now Think On This can
be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This
Again, I would be most grateful if you'd share this
encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use the social
media icons below. Thanks! Steve