The title of the last poem that that William Cowper wrote, in 1773, was “Light shining out of Darkness.” It became known by the first line “God moves in a mysterious way.” John Newton would publish it the following year. It might help to understand the original title when we consider that William wrote this poem after attempting suicide. And so the darkness that he is writing about was gross darkness indeed and how sweet the light of Christ that rescues us even if we make our beds in hell, even the darkness, shall be light unto Him. He also wrote “There is a fountain filled with Blood,” and “O for a closer walk with God.”
These words written, have comforted countless millions over the last 250 years. William, in his serious battles with depression over his whole lifetime could never have imagined the impact his life would have, how it would continue to resonate down through the centuries. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in a man who walked in the darkness of depression for much of his life. Light shining out of darkness. God indeed moves in mysterious ways, who can explain our God? I tell you this though, you rarely if ever read words like this anymore. Savor the words below, they are rich in depth and meaning as opposed to so much of the shallowness that today passes for writing.
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill,
He treasures up his bright designs
And works his sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the lord by feeble sense,
But trust him for his grace;
behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
His purpose will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
the bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain:
God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.
There is the presence of God to be found in enthusiastic and energetic worship, the kind of worship that lifts your spirit. It can lift up the head that hangs low and invigorate the heart and fill you full of joy and leave you strengthened. This is good worship. Yet there is another kind of worship that seems to have fled the land. A worship where we breath in rarified air. Oh how desperate is our need for this kind of encounter in our day.
The first kind of presence lifts your heart to gaze upon the Master, the second kind of presence invades every part of who you are. It falls from heaven like a heavy dew, heads are lowered and hands are raised. All becomes quiet, one barely dares to breathe as the Spirit of God slowly descends down through our out-strecthed hands and our hearts and minds and down to the very soles of our feet, and the ground upon which we stand becomes Holy ground. The first kind of presence uplifts us, the second changes us fundamentally. As living waters pour into us then it rises up like a great river that is so full that it overflows its banks.
The banks themselves begin to crumble and fall into this river of pure life as it swells up and floods through every part of who we are. The landscape is being changed by this flood, the very topography of our lives is being flattened by its powers and everything that is not securely rooted to its foundations is simply swept away. Changed forever. And when the flood recedes we are left with a glorious afterglow. As the deer pants for the waterbrooks, I wonder, do our hearts pant after this kind of encounter.
The Lord Himself does not need professional worship teams. He does not need people to encourage us to stand and jump up and down and raise our hands. In the Welsh revival two young women singing either acapella or simply backed by a piano typically sang “Here is love, vast as the ocean.” And there was Love, in the very midst of them, vast as the ocean, flooding the hearts and minds of all who attended.
Brothers and sisters, in all our modernity, what have we lost? In the programs of our churches and the professional class of worship leaders and pastors have we lost the simplicity of it all? And in the losing of it we now have to entertain the people. Spirit led worship is exactly that, it is Spirit led. In work we have a routine. In life we have a routine. Prisoners in prison have a routine. Oftentimes we are slaves to the routine, it is what gets us through life.
Yet, there is nothing routine about the Holy Spirit of the Living God. He is dynamic and you can never know what way the wind will blow next. Have we sold out our souls to the routine? Routine in the home, routine at work, routine at church. Routine people do not change the world. Routine people do not do wage war on the battle-fields of life. Saints, you are extraordinary because of the great treasure that lies within you. Extraordinary people change everything by the overflowing power of God that flows through every part of who they are.
The Spirit of God is dynamic and those filled with His “dynamis,” change the environment around them because of the environment inside of them. Their spirits have been filled to capacity and is overflowing their banks. And all who come near are caught up in the flooding overflow of a mighty all consuming God. Lord fill us again to overflowing with the kind of presence that invades every part of who we are and may all that we encounter be caught up in the flood that overflows our spirit.
Latest collaboration between myself and Aileen Gilchrist. I wrote this song based on a vision I had many years ago of what worship looked like in heaven.
A number of years ago I was in the midst of a situation that did not last a week or a month or even a year, it had been going on for a number of years. Near the end of this situation I found myself surrounded by darkness and despair. I had no idea it was almost at an end, but God did of course. I found myself lying on the floor, engulfed with hopelessness and as far as I could see, no light. When suddenly, after months and months of crying out to God His light pierced the darkness. There is a song, an old Hymn, written by a Welshman at the turn of the last century. His words perfectly describe what happened to me and millions others like me.
I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more;
But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me, now safe am I.
Love lifted me! Love lifted me!
When nothing else could help,
Love lifted me.
Love reached down and with a glorious light pierced my darkness and the darkness fled followed closely by my despair. Brothers and sisters, if you know something of that situation today in your own life, don’t you stop crying out with all your heart to a the living God who sees the afflictions of His people. He sees your darkness, He sees your despair. He knows your pain and He sees your struggle. He will lift you again, He will raise you up. He will flood your heart again with love and with hope and with praise. Why don’t you start today and sing this song and remind yourself that the very same Lord, the very same love that lifted you when you were drowning in sin and far from the peaceful shore will lift you once again above the stormy waters of life and then you can sing once more “Love lifted me, when nothing else could help, love lifted me.”
I thank you Lord for broken chains
I thank you Lord that our God reigns
In heaven above and the earth below
You came that all the world might know
That heaven’s gates are opened wide
And flowing waters run deep inside
And I am redeemed and forever set free
And before your throne I’ll forever be
The Lamb of God rises in my heart
The Blood of the Lamb covers every part
Of who I am and forever shall be
The Lion roars and I am free
I run to you my Lord and King
Once had no voice but now I sing
Like a bird that rises on the eternal breeze
To the one who loves and forever frees
I thank you Lord for your holiness
I thank you Lord when I’m in distress
That you are there like you said you would
And in the depths of me I am understood
The Lamb of God rises in my heart
The Blood of the Lamb covers every part
Of who I am and forever shall be
The Lion roars and I am free
The Lion roars and I am free
The lion roars and I am free
I wrote these lyrics a few weeks ago and my dear sister in the Lord, Mary Greig in Scotland recorded it in the studio and she and her family created this video to go along with it. It is shot above my home town of Greenock in Scotland. Please feel free to share this, it is a declaration of who God is and who He will ever be!
There is the presence of God to be found in glorious worship, enthusiastic and energetic, the kind of worship that lifts your spirit. It can lift up the head and invigorate the heart and fill you full of joy and you leave strengthened. This is good worship. Yet there is another kind of presence of God in worship, the kind of presence that there seems to be a famine of throughout the land. The first kind of presence we spoke of lifts your heart, the second kind of presence invades every part of who you are. It falls from heaven like a heavy dew, heads are lowered and hands are raised. All becomes quiet, one barely breathes as the Spirit of God slowly descends down through our heads into our hearts and down to the very soles of our feet, and the ground upon which we stand becomes Holy ground. The first kind of presence uplifts us, the second changes us fundamentally. As living waters pour into us then it rises up like a great river that is so full that it overflows its banks. The banks themselves begin to crumble and fall into this river of pure life as it swells up and floods every part of who we are. The landscape is being changed by this flood, the very topography of our lives is being flattened by its powers and everything that is not securely rooted to its foundations is simply swept away. Changed forever. And when the flood recedes we are left with a glorious afterglow. As the deer pants for the waterbrooks, I wonder, do our hearts pant after this kind of encounter.
The Lord Himself does not need professional worship teams. He does not need people to encourage us to stand up, jump up and down and raise our hands. In the Welsh revival two young women singing either acapella or simply backed by a piano typically sang “Here is love, vast as the ocean.” And there was love, in the very midst of them, vast as the ocean, flooding the hearts and minds of all who attended. Brothers and sisters, in all our modernity, what have we lost? In the program of churches and the professional class of worshiper leaders and pastors we have lost the simplicity of it all. And in the losing of it we now have to entertain the people. Spirit led worship is exactly that, it is Spirit led. In work we have a routine. In life we have a routine. Prisoners in prison have a routine. Oftentimes we are slaves to the routine, it is what gets us through life. Yet, there is nothing routine about the Holy Spirit of the Living God. He is dynamic and you can never know what way the wind will blow next. Have we sold our souls for a routine? Routine in the home, routine at work, routine at church. Routine people do not change the world. Routine people do not do wage war on the battle-fields of life. The Spirit of God is dynamic and those filled with His “dynamis,” change the environment around them because the environment inside them has been filled to capacity and is overflowing its banks. Lord fill us again to overflowing with the kind of presence that invades every part of who we are.
Here is a song I wrote about a month ago. A dear sister, Mary Greig recorded it in the studio last week. I pray that it blesses you, you may want to share it with someone who needs to be reminded of the love of God…………..bro Frank
This is a song I was working on with a dear sister in Scotland when I was recently over there. We are hoping to see an album come together that glorifies God, that we have written ourselves and that allows one to come into His presence.
The song on the video was written last year after I cried out to God. As was walking I remembered this testimony………..
“A man I know of, went into the supermarket to buy his wife a rose. It was his practice to do this every week. He picked the rose that he wanted and made for the checkout lane. As he walked toward the line , the Holy Spirit spoke to him, that small still voice from the Shepherd. “Give the rose to that woman.” Immediately the man resisted. “Lord, that makes no sense. What if she thinks I am hitting on her? What if she thinks I am crazy? What if others hear and think I am a weirdo?” There was such a resistance in his flesh, yet he knew the voice of the Lord, and he knew he had to be obedient. So, he took a deep breath and walked over to the lady and said to her “The Lord wanted you to have this rose.” The woman looked at him for a second, then looked at the rose, and as she reached out to take it, she began to weep. She explained.”My husband died several months ago. Every week , for years, he would buy me a rose. This morning I was feeling so lost and forgotten, I cried out to God and asked Him if He had forgotten me, I told Him that I needed to feel loved.” The man cried too. You see how the Lord loves us? You see how He speaks to His people?”
Well that morning as I was walking and remembering that story, I said to the Lord ” I need a rose Lord.” Later that day I got a call from a dear saint who I had not heard from for over a year. The conversation really lifted my spirits and this person really likes me. You know how it is nice every now and again to talk to someone who thinks you are special? 🙂 Anyway that is where the lyrics for the song ” I asked for a Rose, He gave me a Garden,” came from. Maybe you need to hear from God today. I pray that He talks to you through this song. Aileen Gilchrist wrote the music and sings it with the anointing God has given her
I had a vision a few months ago and wrote about it in song, here is one version of it with two anointed sisters the amen at the end was Daniel who apparently could not contain himself 🙂 bless his little heart.
mediately the man resisted. “Lord, that makes no sense. What if she thinks I am hitting on her? What if she thinks I am crazy? What if others hear and think I am a weirdo?” There was such a resistance in his flesh, yet he knew the voice of the Lord, and he knew he had to be obedient. So, he took a deep breath and walked over to the lady and said to her “The Lord wanted you to have this rose.” The woman looked at him for a second, then looked at the rose, and as she reached out to take it, she began to weep. She explained.”My husband died several months ago. Every week , for years, he would buy me a rose. This morning I was feeling so lost and forgotten, I cried out to God and asked Him if He had forgotten me, I told Him that I needed to feel loved.” The man cried too. You see how the Lord loves us? You see how He speaks to His people?”
A Call To The Remnant 