4 hours ago
Since it's Thanksgiving tomorrow, I thought I'd post a hymn that I just found. I think it's a beautiful thanksgiving hymn. It's put to the music of "For the Beauty of the Earth" only the words are different, but beautiful just the same. The music was composed by Conrad Kocher, and the lyrics are by Josiah Conder.
O Give Thanks To Him Who Made
O give thanks to Him Who made
Morning light and evening shade;
Source and Giver of all good,
Nightly sleep and daily food;
Quickener of our wearied powers,
Guard of our unconscious hours.
O give thanks to nature’s King,
Who made every breathing thing;
His, our warm and sentient frame,
His, the mind’s immortal flame.
O how close the ties that bind
Spirits to the Eternal Mind!
O give thanks with heart and lip,
For we are His workmanship;
And all creatures are His care:
Not a bird that cleaves the air
Falls unnoticed; but who can
Speak the Father’s love to man?
O give thanks to Him Who came
In a mortal, suffering frame-
Temple of the Deity—
Came for rebel man to die;
In the path Himself hath trod
Leading back His saints to God.
I found this on www.cyberhymnal.org. If you would like to hear the melody you can go to the following link: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/g/t/ogtthwma.htm. Listen to the music, read the lyrics, and remember to thank the Lord for all He has done for us - especially for giving His Son. I wish you all a joyful Thanksgiving!
"Let us come before Him with thanksgiving, and extol Him with music and song." Psalm 95:2
O Give Thanks To Him Who Made
O give thanks to Him Who made
Morning light and evening shade;
Source and Giver of all good,
Nightly sleep and daily food;
Quickener of our wearied powers,
Guard of our unconscious hours.
O give thanks to nature’s King,
Who made every breathing thing;
His, our warm and sentient frame,
His, the mind’s immortal flame.
O how close the ties that bind
Spirits to the Eternal Mind!
O give thanks with heart and lip,
For we are His workmanship;
And all creatures are His care:
Not a bird that cleaves the air
Falls unnoticed; but who can
Speak the Father’s love to man?
O give thanks to Him Who came
In a mortal, suffering frame-
Temple of the Deity—
Came for rebel man to die;
In the path Himself hath trod
Leading back His saints to God.
I found this on www.cyberhymnal.org. If you would like to hear the melody you can go to the following link: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/o/g/t/ogtthwma.htm. Listen to the music, read the lyrics, and remember to thank the Lord for all He has done for us - especially for giving His Son. I wish you all a joyful Thanksgiving!
"Let us come before Him with thanksgiving, and extol Him with music and song." Psalm 95:2
Do you have failings? I suppose all of us do. A couple of my failings (and there are many) would be worrying, and being selfish.
I don't know why I have to get anxious when I know that the Lord is in control and I just need to trust in Him. Trusting in the Lord is almost always easier said than done for me. And I don't know why! He's certainly done enough for me and my family that I have every reason to let go of my cares. But part of me always wants to worry. That's pretty silly when worrying does absolutely no good, and most of my worries are unfounded anyway. I know that with my head, but something in me stresses and worries, and it's very hard to control sometimes. I try and try not to worry, but I almost always fail in that area.
Being selfish is the catagory that pretty much all of my other sins fall into. It's such a broad catagory that it's almost hard to write a paragraph about it - where do you start? But I guess to narrow it down, I don't do things for other people as often as I should. Just doing something helpful for someone else, or doing something yourself that someone else was supposed to do could be a great way to cultivate unselfishness. But once again I know it with my head; putting it into practice is alot more difficult.
My pastor said something interesting last Sunday that prompted this post on failings. He was quoting from Lenord Ravenhill who said "Poverty in prayer is the seedbed of all our failures." When I think about it, I think that statement is very true. I know if I prayed more I would certainly worry less. And the more a person prays the more the Lord molds him into the image of Jesus - it's unavoidable; and if a person becomes more like Jesus they would by default become less selfish, because Jesus is the opposite of selfish. I also read a recent article by Steve Brown entitled "Good For Goodness Sake" (http://www.keylife.org/magazine/christmas-magazine-good-for-goodness-sake-2.html). In this article he made the point that if someone trys to be good, just to be good he will probably not succeed. However if that person spends more time in prayer, that person will automatically begin to cultivate goodness, just by praying, because they will cultivate a better relationship with the Lord. And the more a person realizes the Lord's love for them, the more they want to please Him.
I think the Lord has been trying to prompt me to spend more time in prayer. All of my goals as far as goodness will be met much easier if I will just spend a few extra minutes in prayer. And not only that but I will develop my relationship with the Lord to a deeper level if I will devote more time in prayer.
Prayer is hard for me. It always has been. Somehow when I'm praying I get the most distracted, and it's hard to keep focused. Because of the distraction (which I suspect is Satan throwing other things into my mind) I don't get much accomplished in prayer.
I think I will try to make it my goal to change that. Once again, easier said than done; I've been trying for years to improve my praying habits. But I'm feeling convicted that I have not been focusing as much energy and attention to prayer as the Lord would want me to, and so changing in this area will be my goal. If you think of it you could pray for me!
P.S. I think I'll be able to focus better if I have specific things to pray for, at least to start, so if any of you have any prayer requests, let me know. I can give you my e-mail if you would like to send them to me.
I don't know why I have to get anxious when I know that the Lord is in control and I just need to trust in Him. Trusting in the Lord is almost always easier said than done for me. And I don't know why! He's certainly done enough for me and my family that I have every reason to let go of my cares. But part of me always wants to worry. That's pretty silly when worrying does absolutely no good, and most of my worries are unfounded anyway. I know that with my head, but something in me stresses and worries, and it's very hard to control sometimes. I try and try not to worry, but I almost always fail in that area.
Being selfish is the catagory that pretty much all of my other sins fall into. It's such a broad catagory that it's almost hard to write a paragraph about it - where do you start? But I guess to narrow it down, I don't do things for other people as often as I should. Just doing something helpful for someone else, or doing something yourself that someone else was supposed to do could be a great way to cultivate unselfishness. But once again I know it with my head; putting it into practice is alot more difficult.
My pastor said something interesting last Sunday that prompted this post on failings. He was quoting from Lenord Ravenhill who said "Poverty in prayer is the seedbed of all our failures." When I think about it, I think that statement is very true. I know if I prayed more I would certainly worry less. And the more a person prays the more the Lord molds him into the image of Jesus - it's unavoidable; and if a person becomes more like Jesus they would by default become less selfish, because Jesus is the opposite of selfish. I also read a recent article by Steve Brown entitled "Good For Goodness Sake" (http://www.keylife.org/magazine/christmas-magazine-good-for-goodness-sake-2.html). In this article he made the point that if someone trys to be good, just to be good he will probably not succeed. However if that person spends more time in prayer, that person will automatically begin to cultivate goodness, just by praying, because they will cultivate a better relationship with the Lord. And the more a person realizes the Lord's love for them, the more they want to please Him.
I think the Lord has been trying to prompt me to spend more time in prayer. All of my goals as far as goodness will be met much easier if I will just spend a few extra minutes in prayer. And not only that but I will develop my relationship with the Lord to a deeper level if I will devote more time in prayer.
Prayer is hard for me. It always has been. Somehow when I'm praying I get the most distracted, and it's hard to keep focused. Because of the distraction (which I suspect is Satan throwing other things into my mind) I don't get much accomplished in prayer.
I think I will try to make it my goal to change that. Once again, easier said than done; I've been trying for years to improve my praying habits. But I'm feeling convicted that I have not been focusing as much energy and attention to prayer as the Lord would want me to, and so changing in this area will be my goal. If you think of it you could pray for me!
P.S. I think I'll be able to focus better if I have specific things to pray for, at least to start, so if any of you have any prayer requests, let me know. I can give you my e-mail if you would like to send them to me.
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