I was sitting in a hot, crowded room in the Middle East with a group of Jesus followers. We were praying. . .worshipping. . .and just enjoying God.
Have you experienced that? A time of being in the presence of Almighty God – I mean really, consciously, being in His presence. Nothing else on your mind. No distractions. No hurry to get the tasks of the day started (or finished).
Just basking in the glorious, loving, gentle, peaceful, powerful, holy presence of the One and Only God.
Loving Him. . .and letting Him love you.
At some point that morning, a young man began to play the guitar and lead us in singing a song of worship to the Lord. I had not heard it for many years. It is simply called, “There Is None Like You.”
You can hear it here and read the lyrics written by Lenny LeBlanc (http://www.lennyleblanc.com/?page_id=2) and sung by LeBlanc and Kelly Willard:
There is none like You,
No one else can touch my heart like You do,
I can search for all eternity Lord
And find, there is none like You.
There is none like You.
No one else can touch my heart like You do,
I can search for all eternity Lord
And find, there is none like You.
Your mercy flows like a river wide,
And healing comes from Your hand.
Suffering children are safe in Your arms,
There is none like You.
There is none like You, (There is none like You, Lord)
There is none like You.
I can search for all eternity Lord,
There is none like You.
I can search for all eternity Lord,
There is none, (there is none,)
There is none Lord,
There is none like You.
Today, may I encourage you. . .get alone with God. And get quiet.
Let Him love you and tell Him that you love Him.
And say:
“Oh Lord. . .there is none like You!”
Beautiful. Thank you for sharing this, Mark. God bless you all in the Middle East.
Laura, thanks so much for reading & encouraging us. God bless you & your family.
Thank you. It’s encouraging to me as well to see you building bridges of conversation and understanding that are so needed right now. Take care.
Thanks, Laura, it is indeed one of my chief goals in this blog to build bridges of conversation.
A Muslim friend from Gaza once said to me (as he graciously walked me to his car after a long evening visit at his college apartment in Michigan):
“If we don’t talk, our sons may one day be at war and kill each other. We have to talk.”
I so agree.
There is none like Him.
Godfrey, may I remind myself of that each day, all day so I can give God the proper praise that is due Him – both now and forever!
I like Psalm 106:2. . .
New International Version
“Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare his praise?”
New Living Translation
“Who can list the glorious miracles of the LORD? Who can ever praise him half enough?”
New American Standard Bible
“Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the LORD, Or can show forth all His praise?”
“For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen”
So amen, Mac, so amen.
Romans 11:36
“I saw my Lord with the eye of my heart”
—Al-Hallaj
Surah 112
Say: He is God , the One
God, the Eternal (the Refuge)
He begets not, nor is he begotten
and there is none like him
Thanks for sharing the verse. I always appreciate reading each other’s Scriptures.
Just a word about the term, “begotten,” if I might, since it is very misunderstood and objectionable (quite understandably) to Muslims:
#1 – First of all, the Bible never. . .ever. . .ever. . .speaks of Jesus’ conception as a result of anything physical (sexual) between God and Mary. I hate to even type those words (the thought is so repulsive and vulgar) but I know for sure that some Muslims believe this is what the Bible teaches and what Christians believe. May I assure you in the strongest way possible that this is not true! The Bible does not teach it and Christians do not believe it! No, the Bible teaches that Jesus’ conception was not a result of any physical relationship whatsoever but was simply a glorious miracle from God.
#2 – Second, the Bible verses that speak about Jesus being “begotten” are simply referring to his uniqueness – that which has no duplicate (John 1:14, 18; John 3:16; 1 John 4:9) – or to his resurrection from the dead and exaltation in heaven (Psalm 2:7; Hebrews 1:5 & 5:5; Acts 13:33). In other words, the word “begotten” – which is used in older translations of the Bible (such as the King James Version) – actually has nothing to do with Jesus’ conception or his birth.
#3 – Finally, the term “begotten” (Greek: μονογενης) found in some older translations is a poor and inaccurate translation. It is actually a mistranslation. Again, in the Bible, when this word is used of Jesus, it never means offspring generated by procreation of a male parent. Rather, it refers to Jesus’ one-of-a-kind-ness and should better be translated as “one and only,” or “one of a kind,” or “unique,” or “incomparable” as most newer versions do.
As one writer so effusively says, “begotten” as used of Jesus means:
“the unparalleled, the irreplaceable, the incomparable, the peerless, the unequaled, the matchless, the non-duplicable (and any other word that describes superlative and exclusive excellency).”
Hope that helps.
thankyou for the explanations—and yes, your explanations are always interesting and helpful. I really appreciate them.
misunderstanding—Perhaps these are to be expected when some Christians insist that Mary is “Mother of God” (Theotokos = one who gives birth to God) and to Jesus as “Son of God”. Instead—if factual terms such as Mary, mother of Jesus and Jesus son of Mary were to be used—such misunderstandings would become less….?…..
I think we will always use terms that the other person has difficulty with because of our differences in some basic theological issues.
But. . .if we keep working, at least we can get a better understanding of why the other person believes as they do. We can gain a deeper respect for them – even in the midst of the strongest disagreements.