Is Your All on the Altar?
And for faith to increase,
And have earnestly, fervently prayed.
But you cannot have rest
Or be perfectly blest
Until all on the altar is laid.
Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest
And have peace and sweet rest
As you yield Him your body and soul.
Would you walk with the Lord
In the light of His Word,
And have peace and contentment always?
You must do His sweet will
To be free from all ill-
On the altar your all you must lay.
Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest
And have peace and sweet rest
As you yield Him your body and soul.
O we never can known
What the Lord will bestow
Of the blessings for which we have prayed
Till our body and soul
He doth fully control,
And our all on the altar is laid.
Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest
And have peace and sweet rest
As you yield Him your body and soul.
Who can tell all the love
He will send from above,
And how happy our hearts will be made,
Of the fellowshup sweet
We shall share at His feet
When our all on the altar is laid.
Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest
And have peace and sweet rest
As you yield Him your body and soul.
Is your all on the altar laid?
This song spoke and convicted me this morning as I heard Bro Webb sing. Really, are our all on the altar laid? "Search me O God and know my heart today." Undeniably, we are so prone to holding back things in our life, from the Source of all things. Despite knowing we need to come before God to surrender our all daily and submit in the fear of our Lord our lives. We have yet to do so, aint it so? I can't deny that I have at times been living the way I want and the way I desire, sometimes even disregarding what God may say, and when His spirit makes it known to me by conviction, I find always coming back to realise I sought after my own way before God's. My prayer now is that I may be a man God delights in, "a man after God's own heart". Yet at many times falling short of what I purpose to do. Not because God didnt hear me, nor because He had not the power and grace to suffice me to be one like Him, but simply the fact that my all wasnt on the altar laid! God wants to do in us His will and His pleasure, remember? And we, as His beloved yearns for Him to change in us His glory each day, right? Yet the only thing we could, "do" if I may say is to simply surrender totally and lay our lives on the altar of God. How can God work in us His will for His pleasure if we have our will and desires stubbornly held on to? OR even things or people we refuse to let go. By surrendering all, we are allowing God to move free in and out, through and from our hearts our minds and our lives. God always gave men free will, a choice even from the very beginning. And the door doesnt have a knob on the outside, it can only be opened from inside. So, similarly, unless we give our God full control, He cant work in us to do His will and pleasure. "Your heart does the Spirit control?" Such a simple truth, with such eager and hearts with love toward God, yet such a difficult task to truly lay our all on the altar! O for grace to fully surrender our all!
This week past rather quickly I guess. Despite the absence of many from our midst, I thank God He IS everywhere and anywhere. I thank Him for His faithful and abiding presence. It was indeed delightful to meet up with the guys stuck in Singapore, Darren, Beng, Ivan, Xuan twice in a week! For me, I simply thank God for this simple, sweet fellowship of christian brothers gathered only in the name of our Lord. I am blest I should say, despite at the absence of many. Realise that sometimes when more are gathered, we may become distracted and even how our fellowship at times may even not be pleasing in His sight! But I thank the Lord truly for the honest and sincere sharings from the guys, earnest prayers. I guess the first meeting, after all our sharings, I believe everyone really benefitted and testified that God's way is always higher than ours and sometimes though we arent able to see the full picture, God's way is always perfect! I am sure everyone were encouraged and assured of God's ways and His methods of pruning us. The second meeting was also quite nice laa. One thing I really thank God for are these brothers whom God has and will continue to teach grow and raise men seeking after His own heart, like David and even leaders like Joshua. I'm confident in God's promise that if we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him. And hearts and lives ready to be pruned and refined by the Lord. Anyway for those who were away, we are still glad you are back. We missed your presence! ((:
Thank God for the presence of Bro Barry Webb and family. I have been blessed by their service in the Lord and I'm sure many are. Amazingly talented family, whom testify only of God's work in their lives. What Bro Webb shared today was vey thought-provoking and it spurred me to think of what kind of Dad I would be in future. Heh. "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!" Joshua 24:15. I guess at least I know that I must lead them into service for God.
What is up for me this week? I wish to say to complete my work. But looks like I have a camp to attend. One I almost dread totally. A 4 day 2 night Bicultural Studies Camp at Singapore Sports School. I guess somethings they will do there may not be very right and I shall pray and see what God wants me to do. I do hope that if God wills for me to miss it, I may fall ill or something. But if He wants me to go for it, I guess I have to learn to submit to His will before mine.
I will follow Thee my Savior; Lead on, my Shepherd, lead on.
