Lord’s Day, Vol. 4 No. 50

(1) Vacation Bible School

Thank God for sending 26 children to BHBPC’s first Vacation Bible School (VBS) held on 7 December. The theme of the VBS was “The Ten Commandments”.

The programme began with the singing of children’s songs in particular the “Ten Commandments Song” after an opening prayer. The children were taught the Ten Commandments through two sessions of exhortations. There were also introduction games played so that the children get to know one another. After lunch, the children had an Art and Craft session where they wrote the Ten Commandments in a booklet “word perfect”. A short video on the Ten Commandments was shown before the “Ten Commandment Song” was rehearsed again. The children were dismissed with invitations for our Christmas Praise Service.

God willing, Blessed Hope Saturday School for kindergarten and primary school-going children would commence on 21 January 2017 and thereafter on every 4th Saturday of the month.

Thank God for the many volunteers and helpers serving joyfully in the VBS.

 

(2) Since Jesus Came Into My Heart

– Written with a Pen Dipped with Pain

One would not surmise that the song of praise “Since Jesus Came Into My Heart” was written with a pen dipped in pain. It is a shining example of the radiant promise tucked away in Isaiah 45:3 “And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.”

Herschel McDaniel was a promising young boy and the joy of his father’s heart. But in 1913 he died at an early age and his father, Rufus H. McDaniel, was broken hearted.

In his bereavement Rufus McDaniel was led to rededicate his life to the Lord. He had not written any verse for several years, but in commemoration of the untimely death of his youngest son, he gave expression to the faith that sustained him in his dark night of loss and grief. The song was introduced during Billy Sunday’s campaign in Philadelphia in 1915 and has since been sung around the world as a testimony of joy and trust. McDaniel was led to praise God for the great work of grace in his life.

 

What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought,

Since Jesus came into my heart;

I have light in my soul for which long I had sought,

Since Jesus came into my heart.

 

Since Jesus came into my heart,

Since Jesus came into my heart,

Floods of joy o’ver my soul,

Like the sea billows roll,

Since Jesus came into my heart.

 

I have ceased from my wandering and going astray;

Since Jesus came into my heart;

And my sins which were many are all washed away,

Since Jesus came into my heart.

 

McDaniel witnessed in his song that the Lord who saved him was now the Lord who sustained him in his dark night of loss and sorrow:

 

I’m possessed of a hope that is steadfast and sure,

Since Jesus came into my heart;

And no dark clouds of doubt now my pathway obscure,

Since Jesus came into my heart.

 

Our hymnals usually omit a verse that for the author was a reason for his joy and praise even though his beloved son had gone through the valley of death:

 

There’s a light in the valley of death now for me,

Since Jesus came into my heart;

And the gates of the city beyond I can see,

Since Jesus came into my heart.

 

Are you confronted with any “dark cloud of doubt”? There is “a hope that is steadfast and sure” for you. Has a loved one passed through the “valley of death”? If so, there is light in that valley. It comes from the One who is the Light of the world.

 

[Extracted and edited from Songs in the Night by Henry Gariep]

 

(3) Reading Through Andrew Murray’s 365 Devotional Bible In One Year

Extract of today’s devotion entitled “God the Father” – Matthew 28:19 …baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. “It is important to realize that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity has a deep devotional aspect. As we think of God, we remember the inconceivable distance that separates Him in His holiness from sinful humans, and we bow in deep contrition and holy fear. As we think of Christ the Son, we remember the inconceivable nearness in which He came to be born of a woman and to die the accursed death and so to be inseparably joined to us for all eternity. And as we think of the Holy Spirit, we remember the inconceivable blessedness of God dwelling in us and making us His home and His temple throughout eternity…” May God grant our readers strength to persevere in daily Bible reading. Amen.

 

 

Yours lovingly,

Pastor Lek Aik Wee