To God our Savior, Who
alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever.
Amen.
It is difficult not to despair in the face
of adversity. We are human and sometimes we do forget – we forget the abiding
hope that resides in a deep faith in One who is able to do “exceedingly
abundant and above all we can ask or even imagine” and the strength that we
have when we throw ourselves, in faith, on Him, who is ABLE!
So many who have
gone before us found the peace that resided in a firm faith in God and they
shared in poems and verse that, have today, become some of our most loved
hymns. Perhaps they resonate with us because they were borne out of a faith
journey that was often punctuated with various trials as we do, today.
1.Hymn: All Hail The Power
Of Jesus’ Name
The author of this hymn,
Edward Perronet (1726 – 1792), would probably have fallen into obscurity had it
not been for this story that relates to his hymn:
Reverend E. P. Scott was a
missionary, living in India during the 1800s. One day Rev. Scott met a native
Indian tribesman in traditional costume.
After earnest inquiry, he
discovered that the native was from a ferocious mountain tribe which rarely
came to the city.
Feeling the need to visit
the tribe to share the gospel, Rev. Scott after much prayer set out with a few
meager provisions and his violin.
After traveling for two
days, Rev. Scott suddenly found himself surrounded by a party of warriors from
the very tribe he sought with their spears pointed to his heart.
Fearing that this was the
end for him, he pulled out his violin and began to play.
Closing his eyes tightly he
sang ‘All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name’ in their native language. When he came
to the stanza ‘Let ev’ry kindred, ev’ry tribe…’ he cautiously opened his eyes.
He was astonished to see
that the spears had been withdrawn and several of the warriors were in tears!
For the next two and a
half years Rev. Scott lived with this tribe teaching them the way of salvation.
When poor health forced
him to take a leave of absence, the natives followed him nearly 40 miles,
beseeching him to return to them soon.
This he did, spending the
last days of his life with the people whose hearts had been opened by ‘All Hail
the Power of Jesus’ Name’.
There is power in the name
of Jesus to sustain us.
It is Jesus that saves us
and Jesus that keeps us saved.
I read about a story of
D.L. Moody who had boarded a train, and the conductor of the train was a devout
Mormon.
The conductor spent the entire
train ride, trying to convert Moody to Mormonism.
After a lengthy
discussion, Mr. Moody told the conductor, "there is only two letters
difference between my religion and yours, you spell yours D-O, Do… I spell my
D-O-N-E, Done."
REMEMBER…
LIFE HAPPENS, LET’S ENJOY
IT!
Let us bless the Lord and
worship Him in whose Name dwells the power to change lives! He has changed our
lives and caused us to live for Him!
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