Thou Dear God

Arranged thematically in six parts--with prayers for spiritual guidance, special occasions, times of adversity, times of trial, uncertain times, and social justice--Baptist minister and King scholar Baldwin introduces the book and each section with short essays. Included are both personal and public prayers King recited as a seminarian, graduate student, preacher, pastor, and, finally, civil rights leader.

Every Christian knows the importance of a daily quiet time with the Lord. But anyone who's been a believer long enough has likely experienced seasons that feel more mundane or routine, leading to aimlessly skimming a couple of Bible verses or praying the same prayer over and over. In Be Thou My Vision, Jonathan Gibson has created a 31-day liturgical guide designed to provide structure to the daily worship of individuals and families. Each daily reading includes a call to worship, adoration, confession, assurance, creed and catechism, the Gloria Patri, a prayer of illumination, Bible reading, intercessory prayer, and the Lord's Prayer. Designed to be read in 15–20 minutes a day, this beautifully produced liturgy will give readers focus and purpose to their daily quiet time while teaching them historical prayers, creeds, and catechisms that point them to Christ.

If God is holy, then He can’t sin. If God can’t sin, then He can’t sin against you. If He can’t sin against you, shouldn’t that make Him the most trustworthy being there is? Bestselling author Jackie Hill Perry, in her much anticipated follow-up to Gay Girl, Good God, helps us find the reason we don’t trust God— we misunderstand His holiness. In Holier Than Thou, Jackie walks us through Scripture, shaking the dust off of “holy” as we’ve come to know it and revealing it for what it really is: good news. In these pages, we will see that God is not like us. He is different. He is holy. And that’s exactly what makes Him trustworthy. As it turns out, God being “holier than thou” is actually the best news in the world, and it’s the key to trusting Him.

"Be Thou my Song" is a line from seventeenth-century poet Edward Taylor. In his meditation on Philippians 2:9, Taylor finds that his ability to compose poetry falls short of his desire to glorify God, so he prays, “ That I thy glorious Praise may Trumpet right, / Be thou my Song, and make Lord, mee thy Pipe.” In one way or another, all of the poets included in the chapters of Be Thou My Song strive to convey their wonder for God' s unending grace and mercy in their own limited ways; He provides the content, the song, while the writers are merely the conduits, the pipe. By reading these poems carefully, we can share in their gratitude for how God cares for us, both here on earth and in our final heavenly home.In each chapter, you will find a poem, presented in its entirety, followed by an exploration of that poem and some questions to contemplate afterwards. The goal of these explorations is to provide readers with a deeper appreciation, a deeper understanding, and a deeper love of what each poet has given to us.

Religious poetry is the holy of holies of literature. In all ages poets have been the interpreters of the finer feelings of humanity, and the greatest have treated the loftiest themes that can employ the mind and the heart -- the relation of man to his Maker, and the duties and privileges which arise from it. It has been the aim of the editors to make the present collection truly catholic. It embraces a body of representative poems of all ages, denominations, and countries. The authors are allowed the fullest liberty of uttering their sentiments in their own words. - Preface.