I absolutely love a good hymn. I have been wearing out my Joey + Rory Hymns That Are Important to Us album and every song on there speaks to my heart and soul. When I sing I Need Thee Every Hour I have been feeling that it is what my life should look like but it isn’t always what my life actually looks like.
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee; Every hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior! I come to Thee.
I need Thee every hour, Stay Thou near by;
Temptations lose their power When Though art nigh.
We have been watching some Joyce Meyer broadcasts and on one she talked about having trouble brushing her hair and she felt like God was telling her to ask for help brushing her hair. At first, she didn’t want to ask for help, but later decided to. I think my initial thought is that God doesn’t want to hear from me on the trivial stuff. What I am coming to realize is that when I bring everything to God, he will choose to work through me.
Just last week I was searching for items in my house in two different instances. I was looking for my one year old’s shoes and my oldest daughter’s library book. In both instances, I stopped searching frantically and sat down and prayed about it for a few seconds. In the case of the shoes, it took a little bit. In the case of the library book, I found it a few seconds later. If I were a betting person, I don’t think I would have found the library book right then had I not stopped to ask God’s help for it.
We wrote a family mission statement and the first thing we need to remember is to humbly acknowledge our brokenness and rely on God’s strength. I love that relying on God is the first item on our mission statement. I feel like we can’t accomplish the other items until we are able to rely on Him. I have the best intentions to not rely on my strength, but on His. I can wake up in the morning fully aware of God’s presence in my life and completely forget by the time I walk out the door. Just yesterday I was sitting in church struggling with my children’s behavior and not even thinking to ask God for help!
I have seen what God’s power can do in our lives. I have seen God work through people in amazing ways, but he is not going to do it if we don’t go to him for help. Going back to the song lyrics: I Need Thee Every Hour. I am not sure that there has been a day in my life where I have been focused on God every hour. I think there have been scary times for my family if someone is in the hospital or we are waiting to hear test results where I am very aware of God’s presence in my life and then things work out and I go on with my day depending on myself. How arrogant and entitled I must seem to him. Still, he wants me.
With November being the month where we focus on thankfulness and how much we have, I also want to focus on how much I need God. I am going to try to say a little prayer when the clock strikes every hour.
I want to say:
Dear Jesus, another hour is passing in this day and I need you. I need you every hour. Please help me to work for you and not myself. Please help me to fix my eyes on you.
I love you,
AMEN
My hope is that God will be an even bigger part of my day and my life. I want him to be my whole life. Peter and I have been reading in Matthew and Jesus has some pretty intense things to say about our lives:
Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10:37-39
I have tried too many times to count to “find my life” in myself and my own pursuits. I have tried to find my life in relationships and circumstances. It is time that I find my life in Jesus Christ because I do need him every hour.