Welcome!  Hymns have been and continue to be a real source of inspiration to me.  My desire in this blog is to share special hymns with my readers hoping that the words will minister to them, especially in times of great personal need.  If one of these hymns ministers to you, please take time to leave a comment so that I know that my blog is helping others as much as it helps me. Sometimes I will also provide a link where you can go to hear the hymn played.  So, please join me here each week and sing along as we praise God together.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

A CHILD OF THE KING

Do you sometimes feel sorry for yourself when you wish that you had more of this world's material goods? Do you wish that you would inherit wealth and possessions? How often we feel sorry for our situation in life and we fail to remember the great inheritance that we have from our heavenly Father because of His great grace to us. Meditating on the evidence of God's grace to her, Harriett Buell, a native of New York state, wrote the words for "I'm A Child of the King" as she walked home from church one Sunday. The lyrics were published in the Northern Christian Advocate in February 1877, and were noticed by John Sumner, a music teacher. Sumner had been praying for a Gospel song to replace the one that would have been written by his friend and teacher Philip Bliss, who had recently suffered an untimely death in a train accident. When Sumner saw these words, he knew his prayer had been answered. He quickly composed music for the lyrics without Mrs. Buell's knowledge, so we can imagine her surprise at hearing her poem sung publicly when she attended a Sunday night service in Manlius, New York. Our position as a "child of the King" is solely a result of God's absolute grace. It is neither initiated nor kept because of any of our actions. But in gratitude for our gracious adoption into the King's family, we should sing, "All glory to God, I'm a child of the King!" This hymn is another one from the hymnbook that we used when our church was begun 60 years ago. As you meditate and sing these words, thank your heavenly Father for the riches He has graciously provided for you.

(1) My Father is rich in houses and lands,
He holdeth the wealth of the world in His hands!
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold,
His coffers are full, He has riches untold.
I'm a child of the King,
A child of the King:
With Jesus my Savior,
I'm a child of the King.

(2) My Father's own Son, the Savior of men,
Once wandered on earth as the poorest of them;
But now He is pleading our pardon on high,
That we may be His when He comes by and by.
I'm a child of the King,
A child of the King:
With Jesus my Savior,
I'm a child of the King.

(3) I once was an outcast stranger on earth,
A sinner by choice, an alien by birth,
But I've been adopted, my name's written down,
An heir to a mansion, a robe and a crown.
I'm a child of the King,
A child of the King:
With Jesus my Savior,
I'm a child of the King.

(4) A tent or a cottage, why should I care?
They're building a palace for me over there;
Though exiled from home, yet still may I sing:
All glory to God, I'm a child of the King.
I'm a child of the King,
A child of the King:
With Jesus my Savior,
I'm a child of the King.

Listen to it here. LISTEN

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