March 2022 – ♥️ Take heart!

Greeting death

31.03.202220.12.2025Ruth Kirk

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23:46; NIV).

May I greet my death
With open hands,
Leaving this world
And life’s demands,
Quitting these hills
And shining sands,
Ready to face
Your shadowlands.

May I welcome death
Without dismay,
Leaving this body
To decay,
Ready to see you
Straight away,
Closer, by far,
Than yesterday.

May I cross death’s sea
And step ashore
Into your arms,
As you restore
My health and strength.
Then I’ll explore
Our oneness, Lord,
For evermore.

We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them (1 John 4:16; NIV).

References

Though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me (Psalm 23:4; KJV).

The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7; NIV).

If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me (Jeremiah 29:13; NLT).

God will redeem me from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself (Psalm 49:15; NIV).

While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him (Luke 15:20; NIV).

When we die and leave this earthly body … we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself (2 Corinthians 5:1; NLT).
His unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth (Psalm 103:11; NLT).

I love you, Lord (Psalm 18:1; NLT).

Close your eyes

30.03.202220.12.2025Ruth Kirk

The Lord is full of tenderness and mercy (James 5:11; NLT).

Close your eyes to seek Christ’s face:
Full of mercy, light and grace.

Lift your gaze to catch his smile:
He won’t censure or revile.

Look at him, and watch his love
Pouring down from heaven above.

Talk with Christ; ask him to heal:
He will know just how you feel.

Your faith, your doubts, your hopes, your fears,
Your suffering throughout the years –

He sees, and knows, and shares them all:
Each loss, each pain, each grief, each fall.

He sees, and knows, and shares each one:
Our Lord, who died for us – God’s Son.

At last, receive his healing touch:
Rejoice! He loves you very much.

He loves us with unfailing love (Psalm 117:2; NLT).

Sharing

29.03.202220.12.2025Ruth Kirk

Together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering (Romans 8:17; NLT).

Through good and bad, Lord,
May we share your love,
So you are seen in us.

In darkness, Lord,
May we reflect
Your light.

Through pain and grief, Lord,
May we share your peace,
So you are seen in us.

In facing death,
May we reflect
Your life.

Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies (2 Corinthians 4:10; NLT).

All of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18; NLT).

Share every thought

29.03.202220.12.2025Ruth Kirk

We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5; NIV).

May I share every thought with you,
Until we’re of one mind,

For then my speech will be like yours, Lord:
Humble, honest, kind;

And I’ll grow more like you each day
Until, at last, we’re one –

Then it will be no longer I who lives,
But you, God’s Son.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20; NLT).

Adoration

28.03.202220.12.2025Ruth Kirk

I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid (John 14:27; NLT).

This is your promised peace, Lord God;
This is the place to be.
I wouldn’t miss out for all the world:
This is the place for me.

This is your shrine; your resting-place;
I am your devotee,
Sitting with others in silence, Lord,
Knowing you hear each plea.

We are your flesh; your beating heart;
You are the door; the key.
Gazing on you, Lord, we are one
With each other, with all, and with Thee.

For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him (Philippians 3:9; NLT).

References

Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshipping God with fasting and prayer (Luke 2:36-7; NLT)

“Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.” “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:48-9; NLT).

Let me live forever in your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of your wings (Psalm 61:4; NLT).

The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him (Habakkuk 2:20; NRSV).

Be silent before the Sovereign Lord (Zephaniah 1:7; NIV).

I love the Lord, because he hears my voice and my pleas (Psalm 116:1; NASB20).

All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it (1 Corinthians 12:27; NLT).

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture (John 10:9; KJV).

This is the message from the one who is holy and true, the one who has the key of David. What he opens, no one can close (Revelation 3:7; NLT).

You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life (Deuteronomy 30:20; NLT).

I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory (Psalm 63:2; NLT).

I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one (John 17:22; NLT).

Whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17; NIV).

You are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28; NLT).

Beyond all weariness

27.03.202220.12.2025Ruth Kirk

All glory to him who alone is God, our Saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen (Jude 1:25; NLT).

Beyond all weariness and pain
Is Christ,
Who died, and rose again.

Beyond all worry and dismay
Is Christ,
Who shows us how to pray.

Beyond all anguish and despair
Is Christ,
Who teaches us to care.

Beyond all fear and loss of hope
Is Christ,
Who always helps us cope.

Beyond all ignorance and sin
Is Christ,
The Lord, who dwells within.

Beyond all darkness, war, and strife
Is Christ,
Who gives eternal life.

He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good (Romans 2:7; NLT).

Live in faith

25.03.202220.12.2025Ruth Kirk

Three things will last forever – faith, hope, and love – and the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13; NLT).

Live in faith,
And follow Christ.
Serve God’s people:
See his face.

Live in hope,
And worship Christ,
Greeting all
With his embrace.

Live in love,
And grow like Christ.
In every contact:
Share his grace.

All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24; NIV).

My food and drink

24.03.202220.12.2025Ruth Kirk

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh (John 6:51; NLT).

Lord,
You are my living bread:
Food for my hungry mind.
Your word is meat
For my starving heart,
Your life: a feast
For my soul.

Lord,
You are my living wine:
Drink for my thirsty mind.
Your truth is strength
For my fainting heart,
Your love: a cup
For my soul.

He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:19-20; NIV).