Songs.

Every morning I wake up singing a song, not out loud, but in my head. I rarely remember my dreams but I always remember a song. Lately its been "99 red balloons" and quite often its "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus. I don't even like that song but I don't have any control over that, so it's always a little hilarious to me. But this morning I woke up with this refrain from the hymn "'tis so sweet to trust in Jesus" in my head:

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
 How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er; 
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
 Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

I can't even remember the last time that I sang that song in church, or even heard that song. But I'd like to believe, unlike 99 red ballons or some random Miley Cyrus song, that this wasn't random. I'd like to believe that the Holy Spirit put this little refrain into my head, because these lyrics have been such a gift to me today.

Here's the rest of the lyrics to the song:

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, 
Just to take Him at His Word; 
Just to rest upon His promise,
 And to know, “Thus saith the Lord!”

Refrain:
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! 
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er;
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
 Oh, for grace to trust Him more!

Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus, 
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
 And in simple faith to plunge me
 ’Neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Yes, ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus,
 Just from sin and self to cease; 
Just from Jesus simply taking
 Life and rest, and joy and peace.

I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee,
 Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend; 
And I know that Thou art with me,
 Wilt be with me to the end.

I am finding such comfort in these words. Love that third verse. Right now I am really resonating with the line "just from Jesus simply taking life and rest, and joy and peace." So simple, not always so simply lived out however, but has such profound meaning for our lives.

This is such a blessing and a challenge and a comfort for me.

Thank you Jesus for always waking me up with songs, especially today.

The Call of God

Ok, I totally ripped this entire blog post from Oswald Chambers. My Utmost for His Highest is, more often than not, one of those books that when I read the entries I feel like he is writing directly to me. Today is one of those days and I wanted to share.

"Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel..." (1 Corinthians 1:17)

Paul states here that the call of God is to preach the gospel. But remember what Paul means by "the gospel", namely, the reality of redemption in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are inclined to make sanctification the goal of our preaching. Paul refers to personal experiences only by way of illustration, never as the end of the matter. We are not commissioned to preach salvation or sanctification - we are commissioned to lift up Jesus Christ (John 12:32 -"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."). It is an injustice to say that Jesus Christ labored in redemption to make me a saint. Jesus Christ labored in redemption to redeem the whole world and to place it perfectly whole and restored before the throne of God. The fact that we can experience redemption illustrates the power of its reality, but that experience is a byproduct and not the goal of redemption. If God were human, how sick and tired He would be of the constant requests we make for our salvation and for our sanctification. We burden his energies from morning till night asking for things for ourselves or for something from which we want to be delivered! When we finally touch the underlying foundation of the reality of the gospel of God, we will never bother Him anymore with little personal complaints.

The one passion of Paul's life was to proclaim the gospel of God. He welcomed heartbreak, disillusionment, and tribulation for only one reason - these things kept him unmovable for his devotion to the gospel of God.

This speaks so deeply to my soul. I've been selfish in my prayer life. And I've been narrow minded. I'm encouraged and challenged by this today.