ALL THAT I NEED IS IN JESUS

          Recently we have been going through a time of shortages and for us that has been unusual.  Some food and home supplies have often been out of stock.  Automobiles, furniture and appliances are backordered.   And employers are finding it hard to hire employees who are willing to work, so many services have been limited.

          But we should never complain because there are millions around the world who are in much worse shape than we are.  That is one of the reasons that thousands are trying to gain access through our borders.  But we too have homeless and poor who need help.

          In fact instead of complaining, we should have hearts full of thanks for all the many blessings that the Lord does provide for us each day.  He provides all that we need including our physical and spiritual needs.  Our problem is that we often fail to thank Him for that provision.  Often we just want more.

          And He also provides us with all the guidance, wisdom, strength, presence, and peace that we need for daily living.  What more could we want?

           Harry Dixon Lowes (1895-1965) studied at Moody Bible Institute, and after extensive training in music he served a number of churches with a ministry of music. From 1939 until his retirement he was a member of the music faculty of Moody Bible Institute. During his life he wrote the lyrics for 1,500 gospel songs, and composed 3,000 tunes.

          One day, while listening to a sermon on the subject of Christ's atonement entitled "Blessed Redeemer,"  Lowes was inspired to compose this tune. He then sent the melody with the suggested title to Avis Christiansen (1895-1985), a friend for many years, asking her to write the text. She did it and the hymn first appeared in Songs of Redemption, compiled by Marin and Jelks, in 1920, and published by the Baptist Home Mission Board.

         It appears that the text was written from the personal experiences of Lowes and Christiansen who both new the truth of finding all that they needed in Jesus.  They knew that "Jesus is all this poor world needs today".

          Is it your testimony today that "He satisfies, joy He supplies. Life would be worthless without Him.  All things in Jesus I find"?  If not, trust Jesus and find that indeed He is all that you want and need.

1 Friends all around us are trying to find

What the heart yearns for, by sin undermined;

I have the secret, I know where 'tis found:

Only in Jesus true pleasures abound.

Refrain:

All that I want is in Jesus;

He satisfies, joy He supplies;

Life would be worthless without Him,

All things in Jesus I find.

2 Some carry burdens whose weight has for years

Crushed them with sorrow and blinded with tears;

Yet One stands ready to help them just now,

If they with faith and in penitence bow. (Refrain)

3 No other name thrills the joy-chords within,

And thro' none else is remission of sin;

He knows the pain of the heart sorely tried,

All of its needs will in Him be supplied. (Refrain)

4 Jesus is all this poor world needs today;

Blindly men strive, for sin darkens the way.

O to draw back the grim curtains of night--

One glimpse of Jesus, and all will be bright! (Refrain)

Listen to it here.    ALL

THANKS TO GOD FOR MY REDEEMER (TH)

 TIMELESS HYMNS - A special feature in which I choose a previous blog, rewrite it and share it once again.  This hymn was featured here on November 20, 2017

         "It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High (Ps. 92:1).  "Praise the LORD! Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever" (Ps. 106:1).  

          This week, here in the United States, we will celebrate Thanksgiving Day.  It is a special day when we are encouraged to pause and give thanks for the many blessings we have.  But everyday should be a day of thanksgiving for each believer.  "In everything give thanks" (I Thess. 5:18).  And that certainly is the theme of this week's hymn choice which is of Swedish heritage.  

           The words were penned by August Ludvig Storm (1862-1914).  He was converted to Christ in a Salvation Army meeting. He joined the Salvation Army Corps and became one of its leading officers. He wrote this hymn's text for the Army publication, Stridsropet (The War Cry), on December 5, 1891. 

          The original Swedish version had four stanzas, with each verse beginning with the word 'tack' (thanks)". The gratitude expressed to God ranges from the "dark and dreary fall" to the "pleasant, balmy springtime," and "pain" as well as "pleasure." 

           Storm suffered a back ailment at the age of 37 that left him crippled for life. But he continued to administer his Salvation Army duties until his death. Despite this handicap, Storm shared numerous things that he was thankful for. 

          A year before his death, he wrote another poem in which he thanked God for the years of calm as well as pain. This hymn was written in Swedish and was translated into English in 1931, by Carl Ernest Backstrom (1901-1984). In Storm's Swedish version, he lists some thirty-two things to be thankful for.  

           His hymn could serve as a good outline of things that we should thank the Lord for.  Let me challenge you to use this hymn during your season of thanksgiving this week.  We certainly have so much to be thankful for, even in a pandemic.  Thank you Lord for your bountiful provision.  God is so good.

1.     Thanks to God for my Redeemer,

Thanks for all Thou dost provide!

Thanks for times now but a memory,

Thanks for Jesus by my side!

Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime,

Thanks for dark and stormy fall!

Thanks for tears by now forgotten,

Thanks for peace within my soul!

2.     Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,

Thanks for what Thou dost deny!

Thanks for storms that I have weathered,

Thanks for all Thou dost supply!

Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure,

Thanks for comfort in despair!

Thanks for grace that none can measure,

Thanks for love beyond compare!

3.     Thanks for roses by the wayside,

Thanks for thorns their stems contain!

Thanks for home and thanks for fireside,

Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!

Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,

Thanks for heav'nly peace with Thee!

Thanks for hope in the tomorrow,

Thanks through all eternity!

Listen to it here.   LISTEN

TRANSFORMED

The process of transformation
of Penn Manor HS

         For many months I have been watching the process of transforming the school where I worked for 39 years into a one hundred million very modern high school.  I have watched them tear down much of the old building, including my first classroom and office, begin to add new structures and remodel some of the old structure.   It is interesting to watch this transformation as well as other old buildings transformed into modern ones.

          But even more amazing are the transformations which the Lord makes in the lives of men and women who are lost in sin.  2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."  Now that is a real transformation - sins forgiven, a new purpose, a new motivation, a new future.  I pray that you have experienced that transformation.

          But I also think that true believers need to be transformed as at times we may tend to wander and begin to live like the world.  Romans 12:2 reminds us,  "Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. "  The follower of Christ continues to receive God's transformation in his life. In other words, beyond the initial step of faith, renewal includes ongoing encounters with the living God.   We need His transforming grace throughout our lives.

          In 1920 F. G. Burroughs (1856-1949) shared this thought in her hymn "Transformed".  Years ago this was frequently sung in churches and I forgot all about it until a friend that I haven't seen in decades wrote to me and asked me if I remembered it.  He said it was sung at his father's funeral.  I did remember it and began a very difficult search to find anything about its background.  I found very little information except for some basics about the author...

          The author was the daughter of a Methodist Episcopal minister.  She married Thomas E. Burroughs in 1884 but he died in 1904. She then married Arthur Prince Adams in 1905. He was a minister.  Her poem, "Unanswered yet" which was written in 1879, was published in the The Christian Standard in 1880 with the name F. G. Browning. She also wrote under the names of Aphelia G. Adams and Mrs. T. E. Burroughs. 

           But I could not locate any information about the circumstances behind the writing of this hymn. I imagine the words probably came from her personal experiences. I think the words  speak to that.  The author is asking the Lord to take her tangled strands which have been in vain, the discordant  keys of her life, the broken vows and the failures and  mistakes and transform them all by His grace.  Do we need to ask for the same to be done in our lives?  May Christ get all the glory for the changes and may we resign our way to His most holy will.  Be transformed by grace divine.  May that be our prayer.

1.     Dear Lord, take up our tangled strands,

Where we have wrought in vain,

That by the skill of Thy dear hands

Some beauty may remain.

Refrain:

Transformed by grace divine,

The glory shall be Thine;

To Thy most holy will, O Lord,

We now our all resign.

2.     Touch Thou the sad, discordant keys

Of every troubled breast,

And change to peaceful harmonies

The sighings of unrest.

Refrain:

Transformed by grace divine,

The glory shall be Thine;

To Thy most holy will, O Lord,

We now our all resign

3.     Where broken vows in fragments lie—

The toil of wasted years—

Do Thou make whole again, we cry,

And give a song for tears.

Refrain:

Transformed by grace divine,

The glory shall be Thine;

To Thy most holy will, O Lord,

We now our all resign

4.     Take all the failures, each mistake

Of our poor human ways,

Then, Savior, for Thine own dear sake,

Make them show forth Thy praise.

Refrain:

Transformed by grace divine,

The glory shall be Thine;

To Thy most holy will, O Lord,

We now our all resign

I also had a very difficult time finding a video of this song.  But I finally found one to share with you.  You can listen to it here.  TRANSFORMED

WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE (TH)

TIMELESS HYMNS - A special feature in which I choose a previous blog, rewrite it and share it once again.  This hymn was featured here on February 5, 2012

          The pandemic has made us realize how fragile life can be here on this earth.   We know that this world is not our home but we are often surprised when loved ones and friends are suddenly gone.  While death is not always easy for us to accept, it is much easier when we know the departed one is with the Lord.

          What a comfort to know that because of our relationship with the Lord, we have the assurance that absent from this world means present with the Lord.   And not only will we be eternally with the One who died for us, but we will be reunited with our love ones who have gone ahead of us.  What a day, glorious day that will be!    

           And that fact is what brought me to this week's choice which was written by Jim Hill. He related that his mother-in-law became very sick. He was a very new Christian at the time and one day when he was coming home from work, he was asking God why this was happening to his mother-in-law. Then he said, words just starting filling his mind, but he did not have anything to write the words down. So when he got home he got out of the car, looked down and there was a old piece of cardboard. So he picked it up and wrote down the words to "What A Day That Will Be."

           The first person that Hill sang the song to was his sick mother-in-law. Since then the song has been an anthem of encouragement many times for many people. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Revelation 21:4.

          I trust that you have the assurance of a future with the Lord in the home which He is preparing for you.  I hope to see you there.

(1)     There is coming a day

When no heartache shall come

No more clouds in the sky

No more tears to dim the eye

All is peace forever more

On that happy golden shore

What a day, glorious day that will be.

Chorus:

What a day that will be

When my Jesus I shall see

And I look upon His face

The One who saved my by His grace

When He takes me by the hand

And leads me through the Promised Land

What a day, glorious day that will be

2)    There'll be no sorrow there

No more burdens to bear

No more sickness, no pain

No more parting over there

And forever I will be

With the One who died for me

What a day, glorious day that will be.

Chorus:

What a day that will be

When my Jesus I shall see

And I look upon His face

The One who saved my by His grace

When He takes me by the hand

And leads me through the Promised Land

What a day, glorious day that will be

Listen to it here.    HEAVEN