I need Thee, Oh I need Thee.

"I need thee every hour

teach me Thy will

and thy rich promises in me fulfill.

I need thee, Oh I need thee

every hour I need thee

O bless me now, my Savior,

I come to thee"

So, I love hymns. Really old hymns. I think they are so wonderful and that the majority of modern worship songs are majorly lacking in the lyrics department. I'm also realizing how very much I am in desperate need of the Lord. Maybe it's because I'm trying new things and I'm failing at all of them, which has been hard. BUT, the Lord is good and gracious and faithful. Just like he always is :) I think that I need to listen to this song until it's constantly in my mind, because I forget so easily how much I need the Lord. It's like the second I get even a tiny victory I start thinking that I've got everything under control and can handle things on my own. God has to laugh at me sometimes, because I'm just like, "It's ok, God, you can take a break this time, I've got this one." And then, of course, I don't. I also really like how bold this hymn is. The author says things like "bless me now" and "thy rich promises in me fulfill". I love that we can ask God things boldly. I want to be braver in my prayer life.

P.S. I didn’t think braver was a word, but spell check tells me it is, so I’m leaving it in there.

learning how to pray.

Lately I'm realizing that most of the time when I pray, I'm really talking to myself. I'm processing. That is not the same thing as praying. In trying to readjust the way I talk to the Almighty, my sister read me this quote. It reminded me of the crucial difference between praying and processing: the person "to whom it is addressed" as Spurgeon says. May I stop and meditate on Him before I say one more "prayer" directed at myself.

"We should, before prayer, mediate upon him to whom is it to be addressed. Let our thoughts be directed to the living and true God. Let me remember that he is omnipotent, then I shall ask large things. Let me remember that he is very tender and full of compassion, then I shall ask little things and be minute in my supplication. Let me remember the greatness of his covenant, then I shall come very boldly. Let me remember also that his faithfulness is like the great mountains, that his promises are sure to all the seas, then I shall ask very confidently, for I shall be persuaded that he will do what he has said. Let me fill my soul with the reflection of the greatness of his majesty, then I shall be struck with awe, with the equal greatness of his love, then I shall be filled with delight. We would not but pray better than we do if we mediated more before prayer upon the God who we address. Then, let me mediate also upon the way through which my prayer is offered, let my soul behold the blood sprinkled on the mercy seat, before I venture to draw near to God, let me go to Gethsemane and see the Savior as he prays. Let me stand in holy vision at the foot of Calvary and see his body rent. That the veil which parted my soul from all access to God might be rent too, that I might come close to my Father."
::Charles Spurgeon