Author Archives: Nannette

About Nannette

Wife to The Sweetheart, Mom to the Fantastic Six, Nana to six of the cutest littles on the planet, Author, The Daniel Fast, A Devotional. UPCI ministers.

What a Friend We Have in Jesus; The Story behind the Hymn

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I have written several “story-behind-the-hymn” posts over the years and somehow missed this one! Surely, What a Friend We Have in Jesus is a song we have all related to at some point in our lives. If we grew up around church or gospel music, we can probably at least sing the chorus.


Joseph Scriven was born in Ireland in 1819. He was educated and received a degree from Trinity College in Dublin and became a teacher. With plans to settle down and soon to marry, life was good for Joseph. Unfortunately, the day before his wedding, his future wife drowned. 

The grief was more than he could bear, so Joseph moved to Canada to start over. There, he met and fell in love again, with Eliza Rice, and planned to be married, again. It is unthinkable that you could lose so much in one young lifetime but weeks before they were to be wed, Eliza became sick and died from her illness. Joseph was only 25.

From this heartache, and through faith in his God, a mission was born. Joseph took a vow of poverty and began to help the poor and the handicapped in any way he could. For ten years he made himself available to come alongside those that were in need and he found comfort and purpose in serving.

Then, unbelievably, heartache would strike again! His mother, still in Ireland and Scriven in Canada, became very ill and he did not have the funds to help her or to go and be with her. He penned the words to this poem for her and it has since comforted, encouraged and uplifted generations!

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 Savior, 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

Today, we find America in a crisis like none we have ever seen. Yet, people are coming together around the world to remind each other and to reach out to those who have not heard that Jesus is still near. Prayer still works! He has not forsaken us; He never will. 

Let us, as The Church, not let this opportunity be wasted! There is so much hope in our God, so much hope for our eternal future and so much hope right this very minute that we will see Jesus intervene on our behalf and answer unbelievable prayers. We can see thousands upon thousands come to know the Peace Speaker by Name, Jesus, if we talk positive, think positive and pray like we have never prayed before. 

Are we cumbered with a load of care? Sure, we are uncertain of what tomorrow will bring but Precious Savior, still our refuge!! We take it to Him in prayer, bind together to encourage and pray for one another and continue our wonderful online opportunities of worship, which have been such a blessing to so many. 

Oh, what peace we often forfeit, what needless pain we bear when we neglect to turn over our fears and worries to the One who holds our future in His hands. But when we take it to Him in prayer, He will meet us in our despair and we will find solace, or comfort in His presence. 

God sent YOU, not the disciples, not the Apostle Paul or even John the Baptist to share this Good News in these difficult days. This tells me that if we have His Spirit,  we have all we need to be salt and light right now and bring hope to those around us.

Be encouraged!

You can read previous posts of hymns and their origins here!

Jesus, Lover of my Soul, Everywhere He Leads Me I will Follow On, Stand Up for Jesus, America the Beautiful, Pray for Peace, People Everywhere, O Little Town of Bethlehem, O Holy Night,


Frozen to the Sword

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Frozen to the Sword! Today begins a series on David’s Mighty Men. I will highlight one each day and tell you their story of bravery and heroism; against all odds! I hope you will join me and see what we can glean from these Mighty Men and apply to our own lives.

David Livingstone was a missionary in Africa when some friends wrote him and asked: “We would like to send other men to help you. Have you found a good road into your area yet?”

Livingstone wrote back: “If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.”

Brave.

Fearless.

Courageous.

Heroes. 

We have all heard of heroic acts and examples of extreme bravery. We have read about them, seen them on television and social media and maybe even have a real-live hero in our family.

They were in the Bible too. David, a man after God’s own heart, didn’t defeat every enemy that came his way all alone. Yes, he killed a lion, a bear and even Goliath with his own hands but he found out quickly that he needed to surround himself with those that were fearless if he was going to win the entire battle, not just a fight.

Enter David’s Mighty Men. There were The Thirty and also The Three. In the group of thirty, there were actually 37 that we can count which could mean that they weren’t all on the team at the same time. (For instance, Uriah was killed in battle and he was one of The Thirty.) These were David’s toughest warriors, his trusted companions and faithful few. There were three men listed separately as The Three, even more set apart possibly because of their bravery or accomplishments. Josheb-basshebeth, Shammah and Eleazar made up The Three.

We are going to learn about some of them over the next several days and find out why a Mighty Man such as King David chose these fearless leaders to stand by his side in battle.

The son of Dodai the Ahohite, Eleazar was one of David’s Three Mighty Men. Eleazar means the Lord is my helper in Hebrew. The Lord did not disappoint Eleazar! David was engaged in battle with the Philistines at Pas Dammim but the men of Israel pulled back; they actually retreated and abandoned David to fight alone!

Here I come to save the day! Mighty Man is on his way! (or Mighty Mouse as the ancient cartoon was noted for…most of you are way too young to remember Mighty Mouse.)

Back to scripture:

“Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty men, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammim for battle. Then the men of Israel retreated, but he stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead.” 2 Samuel 23:9–10 NIV

So they were surrounded, defeat seemed imminent, yet there was no way Eleazar was going to leave David. He stood his ground, struck down every single one that came at him and refused to retreat.

The 3 and the 30 Til his hand grew tired and froze to the sword

Have you ever stayed with something so long that your hand was in a locked position and you had to pry it off? Probably not, but Eleazar did. The Bible says his hand was frozen to the sword. I don’t think it meant it was below zero outside, I believe it was describing the death grip he had on his weapon. No way was he going to quit, no way was he backing down and no way was he letting go of the sword.

The Bible tells us that the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, according to Ephesians 6:17. It is our ultimate weapon! This powerful sword is all we need to defeat whatever the enemy wants to bring against us.

Just as the Philistines were taunting David and Eleazar, Satan came and taunted Jesus in the wilderness. What did Jesus do? He used the sword, his weapon of choice, to counter-attack! “It is written…”

If we are going to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, against the evil forces that are coming upon this world (and are already here), we must speak the Word, claim the Word and USE the Word to fight our battles.

Do you know that the more time you spend immersed in the Word of God the more you will be able to defend your faith? You will become “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might…” when you actually take the time to learn the Word and hide it in your heart. Then, when you need it, the Word will come alive to you and God will bring to your memory passages of scripture that you might not even remember reading, or memorizing. It will BE THERE because God is faithful to His Word.

As the quote at the beginning expresses:

Are we of the few that will GO, will STAND, will ACT even if there is no ROAD ahead of us?

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Even if no one else will stand, no one else steps forward?

Are you spending time in prayer and reading of the Word every day? It is vital to your Christian health. Persecution of The Church of the Living God comes in many forms and our weapon of choice should be the same one that Jesus our Lord chose as His own: the Word of God! Immerse yourself in it, love it, consume it, let it take over your thoughts and actions as you become more like Christ. Stay tuned as we discover another one of The Mighty Men tomorrow.
Kingdom2

 

 

Fasting? Protect Your Heart!

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You can read the first three posts in our fasting series here, here and here. We are still talking about the Armor of God. Suiting up with that armor EVERY DAY means we are always prepared for spiritual warfare. Fasting, coupled with prayer is an integral part of that armor! Today, we are putting on the Breastplate of Righteousness.

Have you heard the story about King Ahab? Yes, the same one who had Naboth killed so he could have his vineyard, but that’s not the story I am talking about.

In the 16th chapter of 1 Kings,  Ahab “…did what was evil in the LORD’s sight more than all who were before him.”

Jumping over a few chapters, we are told that prophecy revealed to King Ahab that he would surely die in an upcoming battle.  Ahab thought he could take control of that situation by disguising himself, yet he instructed his ally, King Jehoshaphat, to go ahead and wear his royal robes.

The catch was that the enemy had been told to “Fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel.” And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is surely the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out. And when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.

But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate…And the blood of the wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot.”

Ahab’s  plan didn’t quite work out, first of all because God’s Word never returns void and secondly, his demise was due to a small opening in his armor, his breastplate.

This breastplate could save a soldier’s life! It protected the vital organs, especially the heart.

Putting on the Breastplate of Righteousness is an intentional act, as are all of the pieces of armor. We make the choice to seek His righteousness and acknowledge we can do nothing apart from Him.

We can also have a “small opening” in our armor and not be fully protected! Could it be said that our breastplate isn’t as effective when we aren’t praying, haven’t fasted in forever, we are not reading the Word or following it, when we have obvious sin, or even when we think we can get by on our own merit? 

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 ESV.

We can’t afford to be without this breastplate of righteousness! The enemy is watching and waiting for us to be careless and when we aren’t maintaining our relationship with the Savior, we are “taking off” pieces of our armor and leaving ourselves exposed to an attack from the enemy of our souls.

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” Hebrews 3:12.

Fasting, with prayer, makes us stronger, our armor more secure because we have determined to be closer to our God. We don’t let a day go by where we aren’t putting on the whole armor of God…that we may be able to stand, not in our own righteousness but in His! 

See you tomorrow!

Do you have your copy of my easy-to-read Fasting Devotional? Don’t let the title fool you! It is a 21 day devotion for ANY FAST. Each day is an example of someone in the Bible who fasted, some for the wrong reason as well, and what we can glean from them. There are also Daniel Fast recipes and instructions for following that fast as well. Available at Amazon.com