hymn

What occasions do we pray?

/ Henry Jiang / 2 Comments

Now my brothers and sisters, since we have gone over how we should pray and what we should pray about, let’s talk about  what occasions do we pray more deeply. As stated in previous posts, self-reliance is a sin and we must bring everything to God, through prayer. A very good place to look for prayers to God is the Psalms, since God has commanded us to speak in Psalms (Ephesians 5:19). Psalm has a variety of prayers, anything ranging from lament (eg. Psalm 22), praise (eg. Psalm 30), confession (eg. Psalm 51), help and protection (eg. Psalm 60), etc. If you are all drained out and don’t know what to pray about, I would highly suggest meditating over one of these Psalms to see what God wants us to pray about.

However, let’s go back to the topic of what occasions do we pray. I would like to bring out a parable Dolas, my very good friend from Nigeria, who has trusted in the Lord for all her life and bore many fruits, told me. At the end of the parable, I would like to add a portion of the parable in which my brother in Christ, Jeremy Yeung came up with which in some way completes the picture. Let’s imagine that we are a car. If we want to know more about how to operate this car, we refer to its user manual, in which case we are pointing to the Holy Bible. But the car needs to be constantly maintained, before it breaks down, gets rusty, overheats, etc. This is when we take it back to its maker for maintenance (take it to the Lord in Prayer). It is vital that we constantly take our car back to maintenance as there are so many problems that occur, and we are 100% sure that the maker is omnipotent and that He can fix anything. This is how important prayer is.

Last but not least, what happens when we feel worn out and drained out. For example, in some cases when we have read the manual over and over again (for very mature Christians, I’d say more mature than me in Scripture), and feel dried out, what do we do? We take the car out for a drive! This means going out, making disciples of all nations and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).

This is how Christian life should be in a nutshell. It’s that simple. No complications, no strings attached. What are we waiting for?

What a Friend We have in Jesus

/ Henry Jiang / Leave a comment

This happened during the Cornerstone Regent Park Soup Kitchen. I was playing hymns on that very out-of-tune out-of-shape piano and an elderly man came over to comment. He told me he really liked the hymns I played and he only knows the hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”. Turns out he plays the piano at his church for only 2 hymns and I asked him to play it for me on the piano.

He played a really weird somewhat-like jazz version of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” (Although I did not really like that interpretation, I do not disapprove of any worship music when the intentions are correct). Later, we talked and he told me he is worrying very much about the political state of his home country along with his household struggles. I asked him does he pray about it and he told me that he only prays when he is in deep trouble and only then does God answer his prayer. The ironic thing is I don’t really think he looked carefully at the lyrics of this hymn.

For today’s blog post, I challenge you, my beloved brothers and sisters to meditate on the lyrics of this old hymn. There is a lot to take out from this hymn and the posts for the next few days will be based on this famous hymn as we discover God’s goodness and how we should treat Him as our best friend, and at the same time fear Him. The hymn has enough to speak for itself!

What a Friend We Have in Jesus — Joseph M. Scriven (1855)

 

What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Saviour, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.

Blessed Saviour, Thou hast promised
Thou wilt all our burdens bear;
May we ever, Lord, be bringing
All to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright, unclouded,
There will be no need for prayer—
Rapture, praise, and endless worship
Will be our sweet portion there.

 

God Bless you all! 😀

All Things Bright And Beautiful

/ Henry Jiang / Leave a comment

Yesterday, I talked about my realization of God’s great creations. Actually, there was a hymn that came to my mind, one of the first hymns that I sang in children’s choir when I was in Grade 2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlhV80QPUuI

 

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flow’r that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

The purple-headed mountains,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.

The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
To gather every day.

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

— Cecil F. Alexander (1848)

 

Those are the exact thoughts I have whenever I see something wonderful in this world. God Himself declared that all his creations are good with the phrase “And God saw that it was good” appearing a total of five times in the first chapter of Genesis. Take a moment to meditate on these lyrics. Is this what you are really feeling about God’s Creations? If not, look into yourself. What do you not agree with? Feel free to use the form below to submit an anonymous message to me and I might talk about it in blogs to come 😀

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