I am the Lord’s! O joy beyond expression

Praise the Lord that we are living in the sweet divine romance! I love this hymn!

A HOLY LIFE FOR THE CHURCH LIFE

The books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians contain a total of eight chapters. All these chapters are on the same subject: a holy life for the church life. Whenever we read 1 and 2 Thessalonians, we should not be distracted by other matters. No doubt, in the eight chapters of these two books a number of other points are covered. We need to be careful in our reading not to be distracted by these points. As we read 1 and 2 Thessalonians, we need to keep in mind that the central thought of these Epistles is a holy life for the church life.

This holy life for the church life is constructed of faith, love, and hope. The way to carry out such a life is to be sanctified wholly. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Paul says, “And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ” If we would be sanctified wholly, we need to have our heart established blameless in holiness, and we need to preserve our vessel, our body, in sanctification and honor. Furthermore, all the parts of our being—our spirit, our soul, and our body—need to be preserved complete. This is to sanctify our entire being to have a holy life for the proper church life.

In 2 Thessalonians Paul repeats much of what he has said in 1 Thessalonians. Like a father with a loving heart toward his children, Paul is repetitious. This is characteristic of parents, especially as they grow older. Again and again, they may say the same thing to their children. Therefore, 2 Thessalonians is a repetition and a further development of 1 Thessalonians. It is a repetition with warnings and corrections. In 2 Thessalonians 2 Paul warns the believers not to be misled. He also corrects them in order to bring them back to the right track. Nevertheless, the main subject—the holy life for the church life—is the same in both books. Furthermore, in both 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians we see the basic structure of the Christian life, a structure that includes faith, love, and hope.

Life-study of Second Thessalonians

Message 5 (LSN)

COOPERATING WITH GOD

In verse 23 Paul goes on to say, “And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ” And conjoins the blessing of God’s sanctifying of our entire being, given in this verse, and the charge to abstain from every kind of evil, given in the preceding verse. On the one hand, we abstain from every kind of evil; on the other hand, God sanctifies us wholly. We cooperate with God that we may have a holy living.

According to verses 16 through 22 , we should rejoice, pray, give thanks, not quench the Spirit, not despise prophecies, prove all things, hold fast to what is good, and abstain from every kind of evil. If we take care of these things, the God of peace will sanctify us wholly. Here we see the matter of the believers’ cooperation with the divine operation. In verses 12 through 22 we have the believers’ cooperation in living a spiritual and separated life. In verses 23 and 24 we have God’s operation in sanctifying and preserving the believers.

If we would live a holy life for the church life, we must cooperate with God’s operation. God is now dwelling in us. The indwelling Triune God is operating within us all the time. This is the reason we should not quench the Spirit. Actually, the Spirit is the processed Triune God. The inward burning of the Spirit is the operation of the Triune God within us, an operation with which we need to cooperate. We cooperate by taking care of all the matters covered in verses 12 through 22 . On our side, we need to cooperate. On God’s side, God is operating within us. The God of peace Himself will sanctify us wholly. The Triune God indwells, and we are the ones indwelt by Him. Hence, there must be two sides: God’s side and our side. He operates, and we cooperate with His operation.

In verse 23 Paul expresses his wish, his desire, that the God of peace would sanctify us wholly. Actually, this is the apostle’s prayer. Paul prays that the God of peace Himself sanctify us wholly. We may also say that the first part of verse 23 is Paul’s blessing, that he blesses the believers with a word concerning the God of peace sanctifying them.

In the second part of this verse Paul says, “May your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete. ” In the first part of the verse, concerning God’s sanctifying us, it is God who takes the initiative. But in the second part of the verse, concerning our spirit, soul, and body being preserved, we are the ones who should somehow take the initiative.

Life-study of First Thessalonians

Message 19 (LSM)

My daughter and her husband chose this hymn for their wedding ceremony.

Lucy A. Bennett was born on January 8, 1850 in Green Farm Field Farm, Falfield, Gloucestershire, England. She was a staunch, Methodist and a poet. She began to write poems, hymns, and prose at an early age. As a young woman, she attended the Keswick Convention where she met and corresponded with prominent Christian leaders, including Christina Rossetti, and C. H. Spurgeon. She was active at Mount Pleasant Chapel, where she arranged for ministers to come and speak, led a Bible class for women, and visited and helped the poor and needy. She helped to found All Nations College, Upper Norwood, and Mount Herman College.

Bennett died on March 10, 1929.
Some of the hymns she wrote, include:
Holy, happy separation
Jesus, name of matchless splendor
Lord and Master, we will own Him
Oh, fathomless, mercy, oh, infinite grace
Oh, teach me what it meaneth

As I sang this hymn with other lovers of Christ at His table, I thought of three reasons that “we are the Lord’s”:

1) We are the Lord’s because we have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Christ – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Peter 1:18-19.

2) We are the Lord’s because we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, marked out for His unrivaled ownership – Ephesians 1:14.

3) We are the Lord’s because within us there is a sweet response of "yes, I will", as our answer to His beauty and fresh love. ” We are freshly drawn and given to be His alone. “The love of Christ constrains us, and we no longer live to ourselves, but to Him who died for us, and has been raised” – 2 Corinthians 5:14-15.

We are the Lord's O joy beyond expression

Praise You Lord for such an undeniable fact that I am Yours!! O joy beyond expression!!

"As Thou, Beloved... Forever and forevermore art mine."

O Lord Jesus, I am Your’s, nothing can change my faith in You. I love you, Lord Jesus forever. Amen.

Such a beautiful expression of our relationship with our Father! Thank you for posting it on your website!