What a Friend we have in Jesus…
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Ev’rything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Ev’rything to God in prayer!
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer:
Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus Knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Are we weak and heavy laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Saviour, still our refuge;
Take it to the Lord in prayer:
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee;
Thou wilt find a solace there.
—————————————–
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for Jesus Christ. Thank you for allowing Your Son to mingle among us heathens and sinners… Thank you that He brought Your message of grace to us…
Thank you Jesus Christ for standing between us and the Father… thank you for giving up your life for me, someone who is undeserving of such a gift… of such love… thank you Jesus for bringing us back to the Father…
Thank you Holy Spirit for being with us and praying for us even when we don’t know it. Thank you for reminding us and keeping us in line… thank you for being with us…
Thank you Holy Trinity … for your work, your power and your glory… thank you God that you love your people… thank you Lord for coming down to me and loving me first… thank you God for giving me this passage to heaven… thank you Jesus for blessing me with eternal life…
Lord, tonight you have spoken to me… in some odd way, who knew that I would flip through the ODB… who knew that I would open something I have not touched in months/years? When you choose to speak to us, you allow miracles to happen, you allow the impossible to be possible and I thank you for inspiring us… for showing us who is in charge…
I believe the Holy Spirit made me flip to July 16, 2006 instead of July 15, 2006. I have no clue what made me flip to Sunday’s devotional rather than Saturday’s. I can only think that it is by divine intervention because nothing in my actions could prove otherwise… I believe it was 11 when I flipped to the Sunday devotional… it was on 1 Peter 2:10. It was about people disappointing you and instead of focusing on the disappointments we should look towards heaven and thank you for that special word… thank you for speaking to me… as much as I was discouraged tonight, I thank you that you haev asked me to turn my eyes to you and not to the things around me… I hope that I will be able to train my eyes on you… help me not to be distracted by other people’s shortcomings…
Thank you for speaking to me through “What a Friend we Have in Jesus”…I never really want to sing it because most of the time, I have only sung it at funerals… however, the lyrics are so precious Lord… thank you for the gift of song on earth… thank you for music…
While singing it for the 1st time today in the shower, I realised Lord what it is saying… it is the same as the devotional… that we should focus not on discouragements and things that upset us but we should really bring it to you so that you can fix it… why should we hold on to it when we have a friend in heaven who can help us fix it? All this unnecessary anguish we carry around for no reason at all…
Who knew you would be speaking to me first through song then through words of that Sunday 16, 2006 devotional… who knew… only you…
So dear Lord, I lay my worries at your feet… my sadness, my anguish, my disappointments … I am sorry that I set expectations in the first place that people may not be able to meet… help me to focus on you so that I will not feel helpless… help me to believe again that you are in control…
I know I have lost that burning desire that was so evident at the beginning of this year. Again, maybe that was out of desperation but Lord, I want to be desperate for You, for your miracles, your grace, for your power and glory… I am sorry for forgetting you in my daily life, that things have become so routine and I haven’t treated you like a King that you are…
I do want to thank you for your persistence… for speaking to me even when I wish not to listen… thank you for implanting your words in my life, for teaching me some of your ways. I am sorry if I am not lviing it out but I pray that I will be able to… I really do… So thank you for being my friend… continue Lord to work your magic in my life and in the life of others that I love… thank you for waking me up tonight, for making me realise that you are real once again, that you do have power… that you are Lord of all.
What a friend we have in Jesus… what a privilege… thank you.
In Your Son’s most precious name,
AMEN!
