The Wanderer And The Binder

Come Thou Fount
1. Come thou fount of every blessing

Tune my heart to sing thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise His Name I’m fixed upon it
Name of God’s redeeming love.

2. Hither to thy love has blessed me
Thou has brought me to this place
And I know thy hand will bring me
Safely home by thy good grace
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Bought me with His precious blood.

3. O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

I have been listening to this song every day since Christmas. My wife, Sue received a CD by Jadon Lavik- Roots Run Deep for Christmas from our daughter Jen. What a blessing these old hymns have been as, day after day, I allow them to wash over me!  The Spirit gives me something new each time. Heals, frees, draws, lifts, restores and feeds my soul. Sets me straight and binds my wandering heart taking captive my mind, will and emotions as I come empty handed to His throne of grace. 

So much of life is a wandering! We can wander far and wide, very easily, without leaving our room. One moment I’m in rich fellowship with the Lord, the next I’m doubting His existence! How can this be?!  

Paul said in Romans 7: 24 What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death?25 Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ!

The answer, as always, is found in The Way, The Truth And The Life !

John 14:6
 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

As I seek each day, to follow the KISS method- Keep It Simple Saint, I am ever reminded of the sheer simplicity of the Gospel of Grace. We must stop “muddying the waters” so to speak with all our mental strivings, our philosophizing, our works and get back to basics! 

The surest path to the life of a Pharisee is “hiding behind the truth” in stead of surrendering to the Truth, allowing it to transform your life! 

This Streams Devotion ties it together quite well, Peace, Jonathan 

Drive a Stake Down

“Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar” (Ps. 118:27).

Is not this altar inviting thee? Shall we not ask to be bound to it, that we may never be able to start back from our attitude of consecration? There are times when life is full of roseate light, and we choose the Cross; at other times, when the sky is grey, we shrink from it. It is well to be bound.

Wilt Thou bind us, most blessed Spirit, and enamor us with the Cross, and let us never leave it? Bind us with the scarlet cord of redemption, and the golden cord of love, and the silver cord of Advent-hope, so we will not go back from it, or wish for another lot than to be the humble partners with our Lord in His pain and sorrow!

The horns of the altar invite thee. Wilt thou come? Wilt thou dwell ever in a spirit of resigned humility, and give thyself wholly to the Lord? –Selected

***

The story is told of a colored brother who, at a camp meeting, tried to give himself to God. Every night at the altar he consecrated himself; but every night before he left the meeting, the devil would come to him and convince him that he did not feel any different and therefore he was not consecrated.

Again and again he was beaten back by the adversary. Finally, one evening he came to the meeting with an axe and a big stake. After consecrating himself, he drove the stake into the ground just where he had knelt. As he was leaving the building, the devil came to him as usual and tried to make him believe that it was all a farce.

At once he went back to the stake and, pointing to it, said, “Look here, Mr. Devil, do you see that stake? Well, that’s my witness that God has forever accepted me.” Immediately the devil left him, and he had no further doubts on the subject. –The Still Small Voice

Beloved, if you are tempted to doubt the finality of your consecration, drive a stake down somewhere and let it be your witness before God and even the devil that you have settled the question forever.

***

Are you groping for a blessing, 
Never getting there? 
Listen to a word in season, 
Get somewhere.

Are you struggling for salvation 
By your anxious prayer? 
Stop your struggling, simply trust, and– 
Get somewhere.

Does the answer seem to linger 
To your earnest prayer? 
Turn your praying into praise, and– 
Get somewhere.

You will never know His fulness 
Till you boldly dare 
To commit your all to Him, and– 
Get somewhere. 
–Songs of the Spirit Trust in Spite of How it Looks