Hymns

Savior, I By Faith Am Touching

1.
Savior, I by faith am touching
Thee, the source of every good;
Virtue now, by faith am claiming,
Through the cleansing of Thy blood.

Chorus:
Touching Thee, new life is glowing
By Thy Spirit’s burning flame;
Cleansing, purging, spirit-filling,
Glory to Thy Holy Name!

2.
Touching Thee in faith, I take Thee
In Thy riches full and free;
All I am I open to Thee,
All Thou art Thou giv’st to me.

3.
Touching Thee in faith, I promise,
By Thine own unfailing aid,
Prompt obedience, instant service,
When and where it should be paid.

4.
Touching now Thine outstretched scepter,
O most mighty King of kings;
Of Thy fulness now receiving,
High I mount on eagle wings.

5.
Grace and virtue, strength and wisdom,
All my need, by Thee supplied;
Keep me touching, keep me claiming,
Keep me ever at Thy side.

This is a precious hymn that illustrates a simple life in faith that looks to the Lord be our everything, to give us everything. I have much that I can say about this wonderful hymn, but I will try to keep it short. ;)

Verse 1 starts off with this thought that we are touching the Lord by faith. Not by our striving, not by our own merit, simply by faith. This phrase “by faith” is so precious, so important. Hebrews Chapter 11 uses this phrase about 18 times to describe the heroes of faith it mentions. You could say that your whole life as a Christian is ‘by faith’. Paul would go so far to say that the righteousness revealed in the gospel is from faith to faith (Romans 1:17). It is by faith through grace that I am saved (Eph. 2:8), and it is also by faith that I am brought into experience of all that God is and has promised, and by faith that I can have a life that seeks after Him and is pleasing to Him (Heb. 11:6). Praise the Lord, that He is the source of all our good! We need no good of our own, in fact, we must abandon every thought of trying to bring our own goodness into our new life with Christ, for Christ is All in all (Col. 3:11), all of our goodness, all of our virtue, we simply need to ‘put Him on.’

The chorus of the song points us to the new life that we enjoy in the Spirit (Rom. 8:10-11). Oh, it is so enjoyable to touch the Lord and experience Him! May He bring us and keep us all in such a sweet enjoyment of all He is and all He has!

On a technical note, the Songs and Hymns of Life hymnal where I found this song had verse 2 as I have it posted below. When I was looking up the hymn on hymnary.org (a site that is a reference that I use often), it had a slightly different verse 2, which I have included as verse 3. I liked them both, so I included them!

Verse 4 is a reference to the book of Esther when she goes in to intercede before the king although she was not called for, and she finds favor in the king’s sight so he extends his golden scepter and she lives (Esther 4:9-5:3). What a wonderful picture for us! We, who have no worthiness of our own, no right or claim based on anything we have done, and yet we can come boldly before the throne of the King of kings, find favor in His sight, and are welcomed to receive mercy and find grace in our time of need (Heb. 4:16)! Praise the Lord for such a sweet picture! It’s all because of Him and His accomplishment for us!

Verse 5 closes with such a sweet thought: all that I need is supplied by You, Lord; let me abide here; keep me claiming and touching and enjoying all that You are! Do not let me wander away! May this be our prayer this week. Lord, keep us ever at Thy side!

—Ian K

Complete In Thee

1.
Complete in Thee! no work of mine
May take, dear Lord, the place of Thine;
Thy blood hath pardon bought for me,
And I am now complete in Thee.

Chorus
Yea, justified! O blessed thought!
And sanctified! Salvation wrought!
Thy blood hath pardon bought for me,
And glorified, I too, shall be!

2.
Complete in Thee! no more shall sin,
Thy grace hath conquered, reign within;
Thy voice shall bid the tempter flee,
And I shall stand complete in Thee.

3.
Complete in Thee–each want supplied,
And no good thing to me denied;
Since Thou my portion, Lord, wilt be,
I ask no more, complete in Thee.

4.
Dear Savior! when before Thy bar
All tribes and tongues assembled are,
Among Thy chosen will I be,
At Thy right hand, complete in Thee.

We invite you to sing together with us on “Complete in Thee” by Aaron Wolf and James M. Gray with the tune by Ben Nyce. This is a jubilant song that praises our Lord for all that He has accomplished for us. We can only begin to comprehend some of our Savior’s final words on the cross “It is finished!” (John 19:30). Redemption’s work was done, the precious blood was poured out for our pardon, He fully bore the stroke of punishment that was due to us (Isaiah 53:8).

It is wonderful that the hymn does not stop there. The refrain is referencing Romans 8:30, “and whom He foreordained, them He called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified” (ASV). You will notice that the verse is in the past tense, because God has already completed it! Hallelujah, we are justified! Regardless of how I feel or how I am currently faring in my Christian life, these are divine, completed facts! We can cast out all doubt because our salvation rests on Christ and only Christ! Praise Him! We are complete in Him!

My favorite verse is verse 3. Our Lord and Savior is so good! He supplies all of our lack; He meets our every need. What a wonderful statement, “Since You are my portion, I do not ask for anything else—I just satisfied with You, Lord Jesus!”

May we sing this song together with such appreciation and a heart of thanksgiving to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

—Ian K

Children’s Content

Song: Lord I Lift Your Name on High

Coloring Page

Message

“Enjoying the Resurrection of Christ”

The Empty Tomb

20 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. ² So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” ³ So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. ⁴ Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, ⁷ and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. ⁸ Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; ⁹ for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to their homes.

¹¹ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. ¹² And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. ¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴ Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

¹⁹ On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” ²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Genesis 26:12
¹² And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him,

Genesis 26:17-22
¹⁷ So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. ¹⁸ And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them. ¹⁹ But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water,²⁰ the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. ²¹ Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah. ²² And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

Prayer

Take some time to pray for our world, country, state and city. We pray that the Lord would lift the pandemic, preserve life and restore us. We also pray that the Holy Spirit will do a great, revolutionary work in our hearts during this time. Pray that the Lord would soften our hearts toward Him, send down spiritual roots deep within us and cause us to lay hold of Christ in a new way–in a way of resurrection.

A message for your enrichment throughout the week

visions and revelations: message 4
The One Who Bore the Prince of Life

Bonus Easter Video!

Julian and Marilyn, with The ViOS Project, have been working on putting up videos of great classic hymns in their “Hymns From Home” series. We wanted to share our special Easter video with you all featuring the great Charles Wesley’s hymn, “And Can It Be.”