Wednesday, September 27, 2006

See You at the Pole

Students on high school and college campuses across the nation will be gathering together in prayer this morning. Why you ask? Well, today is See You at the Pole. Faculty and students of varying beliefs will unite in an effort to lift our hearts and voices in praise and petition to our Lord and Saviour. Isn't it amazing that we have the opportunity to do this? Praise God for the freedom we have!

This year's theme of SYATP is grounded in this passage out of Psalm 46:10: "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."

Let's pray!

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

We Praise Thee O God

“Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16

Tonight in our Girls' Group Bible study, we focused on prayer. We had a Concert of Prayer. I was not familiar with this practice, but after the evening was over I felt it was a blessed time. Our time was spent praying about seven different areas: 1). Forgiveness 2). Thanksgiving 3). Worries and concerns 4). Government and authorities 5). Evangelism 6). Edification 7). Praise.

Throughout the 45 minutes we spent in conversation with our Lord, I felt encouraged and lifted up. It truly was a wonderful time. I felt really convicted that my prayer life has been suffering immensely. The Lord placed on my heart the desire and need to spend more time in prayer. I felt especially encouraged during the last portion of our Concert of Prayer: the praises. God has been doing amazing things in my life and I often forget to give Him complete acknowledgement. Today was a beautiful day, as the recent autumn days have been, and the praises were well overdue. Psalm 9:1-2 struck a chord with me tonight: “I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.” This hymn immediately came to mind and has since been running through my head.

Revive Us Again
Words by: William P. Mackay, 1863

We praise Thee O God! for the Son of Thy love,
For Jesus who died, and is now gone above.

Hallelujah! Thine the glory, Hallelujah! aman;
Hallelujah! Thine the glory, revive us again.

We praise Thee O God! for Thy spirit of light.
Who has shown us our Savior, and scattered our night.

Hallelujah! Thine the glory, Hallelujah! aman;
Hallelujah! Thine the glory, revive us again.

All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain,
Whoo has borne all our sins, and hath cleansed ev'ry stain.

Hallelujah! Thine the glory, Hallelujah! aman;
Hallelujah! Thine the glory, revive us again.

Revive us again; fill each heart with Thy love;
May each soul be rekindled with fire from above.

Hallelujah! Thine the glory, Hallelujah! aman;
Hallelujah! Thine the glory, revive us again.

Praise God!

"Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee." Psalm 143:8

Monday, September 25, 2006

Come, Thou Fount

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount-I’m fixed upon it-mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wand’ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wand’ring heart to Thee;
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above.

Robert Robinson (1735-1790), a Methodist preacher in 18th century England, began his walk with Christ at the age of twenty. Raised in a poor family, Robinson set to work at a very young age. He did not have the guidance of a father’s hand to steer him down an upright path. Robinson quickly found himself in the company of wayward men. After witnessing a group of his companions pursue a drunken gypsy, Robinson heard the words of Methodist preacher, George Whitefield. Whitefield preached the words of John the Baptist recorded in Matthew 3:7, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Robinson walked away from that sermon convicted of the sinful life he had been living. He lived in guilt and dread for three years. At the age of twenty, the Lord worked in Robinson’s heart, turning him from sin toward a life for Christ.

In 1757, Robinson went to work penning the words to the hymn, “Come, Thou Fount,” which tell of his life. The second stanza depicts his conversion experience. Notice the beginning of this stanza: “Here I’ll raise my Ebenezer, hither by Thy help I’ll come.” In I Samuel 7, the children of Israel have gathered together at Mizpeh when the Philistines came against them. Mercifully, the Lord struck down the Philistines. It is recorded in I Samuel 7:12: “Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.” According to
Strong’s Concordance, Ebenezer means “stone of help.” Samuel is acknowledging the fact that the Lord delivered Israel out of the hands of the Philistines. In the words to the hymn, Robinson is likewise acknowledging that the Lord is his “stone of help,” that brought him out of the depths of sin.

In the third stanza, Robinson confesses his debt to God that is impossible to repay. He also recognizes his natural tendency to wander and stray from the footsteps of the Lord. Only God can keep us and ‘bind [our] wand’ring heart to thee.” Robinson did indeed stray from his Methodist roots and became a Baptist preacher. It is also supposed that he later followed Joseph Priestly in the Unitarian beliefs.

As we raise our voices in praise to our God and King, let us remember that He is our “Fount of every blessing.”

"For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise." Hebrews 6:13-15

"And be not conformed to this world..."

Bait. Cast. Lure. Hook. Reel.

It's all been done. No longer am I just a "blog stalker"...I'm officially a blogger. Brother Chris and Sister Michelle: may this appease your sweet souls. I can't promise enticing or captivating posts, but I'm going to try to be creative in my entries.

May you sojourn here a while, then carry on with your blog stalking!