Come thou fount of every blessing

Hymns are the best. I absolutely love them. They're like prayers, intimate and personal. Nothing pretentious or misleading. Just real communication. Come thou fount of every blessing is one of my favourite, if you listen you can see why and Chris Rice's version is also one of my favourite so it ties in well.

This hymn was written by Robert Robinson who obviously had his fair share of struggles.

Here's my heart O take and seal it
Seal it for thy courts above. 
-ONWARD!

I come

Just as I am without one plea
But that thy blood was shed for me
And now thou bids me, come they thee
O Lamb of God I come, I come.

I tried to listen to some music last night, thought its been a while since i listened to coldplay to i listened for a while and got fed up with it after two songs. Then i searched my music library for some hymns and listened to that instead. My roommate was watching a hindi movie and i was suppose to be studying but between the movie, the song and my books i could not concentrate. So stopped and listened to the music instead.

I've always loved hymns, and i feel its kind of taken a less prominent role in modern church services. Hymns have a way of getting to your spirit, heart and soul and really express the deepest longing of the heart. They also serve as checks, and question our motives and present relationship with God. For example, you can sing the lines;

And he walked with me and he talked with me
And he tells me I am his own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known

When getting up in the morning to pray is a challenge. God never condemns though it is just man that tries to judge, and i am in no way judging just making a point.

So anyway i felt really blessed listening to the hymns, especially as the songs these days just entertain and don't really leave you with anything of eternal value. I felt encouraged after reading a book i got a long time ago that contained twelve of our favourite hymns today with some background to what inspired the authors to pen down these immortal words.

I was reminded that I dont need to wait until i have no faults to come to God, and that he bids me, to come to him. I remember what fred shared last time, there's nothing we can do to make God love us more or less he just does. And nothing can separate us from the love of God except maybe we ourselves. And you dont have to wait for you life to be straightened out right to come to him, because it may never be. I was reminded also last night that there are only a few things we are prepared for in this life. For everything else like lanre says on his yahoo messenger, all you need is faith.

Thank you Father that you invite me to come to you, just as I am. :)

~shalom~

stray

I love hymns, they tend to have more deeper meanings than most modern songs and stray is one of them. I first heard this hymn in my secondary school, own principal used to lead it when we had assembly, i didnt really pay too much attention to the words at the time but i was reminded of this hymn a few weeks ago and found the full lyrics for it.

Its a hymn that portrays total surrender to the will of God, i especially like verse 2 and 7.

Stray

1. My God , my father, while i stray,
Far from my home in life's rough way,
Oh, teach me from my heart to say,
"Thy will be done"

2. Though dark my path and sad my lot,
Let me be still and murmur not,
or breathe the prayer divinely taught,
"Thy will be done"

3. What though in lonely grief I sigh,
For friends beloved, no longer nigh,
Submissive still would I reply,
"Thy will bw done"

4. Though thou hast called me to resign,
What most i prized, it ne'er was mine;
I have but yielded what was Thine,
"Thy will be done"

5. Should grief or sickness waste away,
My life in premature decay,
My father, still will I strive to say,
"Thy will be done"

6. Let but my fainting heart be blest,
With thy sweet spirit for its guest;
My God to thee I leave the rest,
"Thy will be done"

7. Renew my will from day to day,
Blend it with Thine and take away,
All that now makes it hard to say,
"Thy will be done"

8. Then, when on earth I breathe no more,
The prayer, oft mixed with tears before,
I'll sing upon a happier shore,
"Thy will be done"

~shalom~