Category: Come Apart

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

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Come, Ye Thankful People Come
“Sing to the Lord a song of thanksgiving, sing psalms to the lyre in honor of our God.” Psalm 146:7
I love this traditional Thanksgiving hymn written by Henry Alford I the late 1800’s:
Come, ye thankful people, come,
Raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in,
Ere the winter storms begin;
God, our Maker, doth provide
For our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come,
Raise the song of harvest home.
All the world is God’s own field,
Fruit unto His praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown,
Unto joy or sorrows grown;
First the blade, and then the ear,
Then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we
Wholesome grain and pure may be.
For the Lord our God shall come,
And shall take His harvest home;
From His field shall in the day
All offenses purge away,
Give His angels charge at last,
In the fire the tares to cast,
But the fruitful ears to store
In His garner evermore.
Even so, Lord, quickly come,
Bring Thy final harvest home;
Gather Thou they people in,
Free from sorrow, free from sin,
There, forever purified,
In Thy presence to abide;
Come, will all Thine angels, come,
Raise the glorious harvest home!
Brothers, reflect on these words this morning. Sing them back to the Lord and prepare your heart for this 2010 Thanksgiving day! – Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s Keswick
Digging Deeper: Proverbs 24; Ezekiel 22-23; 1 Peter 1
Dig This Quote: He is a Christian who follows Christ, who measures all things by the standard of His approbation[official approval], who would not willingly say a word which he would not like to have Christ hear, nor do an act which he would not like to have Christ see. He is a Christian who tries to be the kind of neighbour Christ would be, and the kind of citizen Christ would be, and who asks himself in all the alternatives of his business life, and his social life, and his personal life, what would the Master do in this case? The best Christian is he who most reminds the people with whom he lives of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who never reminds anybody of the Lord Jesus Christ is not a Christian at all. George Hodges
Determined Digging: Level 1: John 14:6; Level 2: Matthew 5:10-16
Determined Praying: True prayer is born out of brokenness. Frances J. Roberts

Come Aprart

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COME APART

“And He said to them, ‘Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile.”
(Mark 6:31)

A wise old country preacher, Vance Havner, used to say, “If you fail to come apart, you will most certainly come apart.” Those words spoken many years ago when life was much simpler than it is today, couldn’t be more true in this age of information and technology overload.

Most men cannot stand quiet. It is in the quiet that we really begin to wrestle with the issues of life and of the heart. Think about it, where can you go today without some kind of noise?

The Psalmist David exhorts us to “Be still and know that I am God …” How do we do that when we are so connected to life? And we are connected — cell phones, PDA’s, pagers, computers. How does one get still?

Have you considered a “Personal Retreat?” This is not necessarily a commercial for America’s KESWICK, but this is a wonderful spot for you to get away for a day or two just to get alone with God and enjoy peace and quiet.

I am not suggesting that you have to come to America’s KESWICK to do this (but it is a wise choice!). But I want to encourage you to take a day or two and get away and get alone with God. Unplug the laptop. Disconnect the cell phone and pager. Walk around the lakes and enjoy the beauty of God’s creation. Listen to the birds singing. And you will be amazed — God will speak to your heart.

Writer John Eldridge, in his thought-provoking book, WILD AT HEART, says that “To recover our heart’s desire a man needs to get away from the noise and distraction of his daily life for time with his soul. He needs to head into the wilderness, to silence and solitude. Alone with himself, he allows whatever is there to come to the surface. Sometimes it is grief for so much lost time. Sometimes it even starts with temptation, when a man thinks that what will really make him come alive is something unholy.”

If you would like help in planning a personal retreat, please respond to this email. We would be happy to give you some suggestions.

Now think about this — Jesus Christ, the Son of God — took time to get away to reconnect with the Father! What makes us think we can ignore doing this? — Bill Welte is President and CEO of America’s KESWICK

God’s WORD for YOU: Proverbs 2; Job 22-24; Acts 11

Great Quote: How many Christians are there who pray every Sunday in church, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done!” without ever realizing the spiritual implications of such intercession! What are we praying for? Should we edit that prayer so that it becomes a confrontation: “My kingdom go, Lord; let Thy kingdom come!” Certainly His kingdom can never be realized in my life until my own selfish kingdom is deposed. It is when I resign, when I am no longer king of my domain that Jesus Christ will become king of my life. A. W. Tozer