'Tis Heav'n to Rest in Thine Embrace

My Savior and my King,
Thy beauties are divine;
Thy lips with blessing overflow,
And ev'ry grace is Thine.

The smiling of Thy face,
How amiable they are;
'Tis heav'n to rest in Thine embrace,
And nowhere else but there.

Nor earth, nor all the sky,
Can one delight afford;
No, not a drop of Thy real joy,
Without Thy presence, Lord. - Isaac Watts

This has been a very blessed week for me in many regards. I cannot begin to express the proper and adequate thanks to my Lord for His mercy, His pity, His grace. Truly, "the smilings of His face, how amiable they are." The world, with all its charms can never give the joy that comes through the felt presence of the Holy Ghost.

Over the past weekend our church received wonderful blessings of singing praises, offering prayers to God, hearing His word expounded and exalted, and the fellowship with like-minded saints was as refreshing as ever.

The sermons from beginning to end were a blessing, but two specifically fed my soul, instructed my mind and caused me to consider my walk more closely, and make needed adjustments in life. I love all Bible preaching, but especially when my mind is stirred, my toes are stepped on, and I see areas that I need to make improvement. While to the flesh this is not pleasing, to the soul it is so needful, and in my experience, refreshing.

On Friday night of our meeting, Elder Steve Bloyd preached on the subject of "Fasting and Prayer." Elder Bloyd brought to our attention the often forgotten Biblical principle of fasting. He taught clearly that God's people have observed this practice in Old Testament times, in New Testament Apostolic times, throughout Baptist history, even regularly during the American Baptists during the 1700 and 1800's. In addition to preaching the practice, he gave a few helpful hints from his own study and experience that quite interesting.

On Saturday afternoon, Elder Clayton Nowell preached the word by asking us 5 questions:

1. Are you closer to the Lord than you were a year ago?
2. Are you stronger in the faith than you were a year ago?
3. Do you take time to pray?
4. Do you take time to love?
5. Were you honest in your answers to the first four questions?

Of course his last question struck me, I wasn't expecting it, and at first I laughed, but as I considered it, and as he preached on, the point was well made that we often fool ourselves that we're doing better than we really are. His exhortation was sweet, and his manner invited closer service to the Lord and a closer service to His people. I love sermons where men can invite me to fulfill my Scriptural responsibilities, instead of beating me over the head with them. While I should always be faithful, it is pleasant to receive such a rebuke.

With the combination of these two sermons, I saw drastic need for improvement in my own walk. I'd also seen areas of decline in our congregation, so on Sunday at the close of our meeting, I called for fasting and prayer in our congregation on two Wednesday's a month, asking that God would revive us, and revive His work in our community and in our nation.

I don't record this to boast about my first experience of fasting, since our Lord said it is to be done in secret to prevent being as the Pharisees. However, I do record this as a testimony to the power of this practice. My prayer life had been stifled for sometime by neglect. Yesterday, during the fast there literally wasn't a minute in the day that I wasn't praying, or thinking of prayer needs. It was the most intense day of prayer I've ever experienced, and the joy of it was real.

Too often I get wrapped up in the tasks of life, the charms of life and the distractions of life. But as this hymn states, "Nor earth, nor all the sky, Can one delight afford." How true, how true. Many find themselves "enjoying" the world, and often I do too, yet so few find themselves experiencing joy. Joy is simply a calm delight and gladness. So often I find myself grumbling, and I find myself around a grumbling people. Just like Isaiah said, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips" (Isaiah 6:5).

"No, not a drop of Thy real joy, Without Thy presence, Lord." Yet with His presence it is "heav'n to rest in Thine embrace, and nowhere else but there." How hard to murmur and complain when you've been in the embrace of your Savior, our Lord, our King! An impossibility, I think. While I still see great need of the Lord's revival in my own heart, in my walk, in our land, I have boldness to believe that not only are all things possible with Him, but "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

My Savior and my King,
Thy beauties are divine;
Thy lips with blessing overflow,
And ev'ry grace is Thine.