Momentary Rapture

"Come with Me..." Revelation 17:1

"From every stormy wind that blows

From every swelling tide of woes,

There is a clam, a sure retreat:

'Tis found beneath the mercy seat.

There is a place where Jesus sheds

The oil of gladness on our heads;

A place than all besides more sweet,

It is the blood-bought mercy seat."

The beautiful verses above are from the hymn, "From Every Stormy Wind That Blows" by Hugh Stowell. Written close to two centuries ago, these lyrics provide both an invitation and consolation. It has been recorded that when the First Baptist Church was engulfed in flames during the great Chicago fire, those exiting the building sang this song as a final benediction within its walls. They knew to whom to go and who called them to come with Me.

It was a year ago I heard God's call to "come with Me."

Come with Me, through the pages of My Word. Take a journey from Paradise Lost to Paradise Found. Beyond the people, events and history, meet Me afresh. Go deeper into My heart. Discover Me anew.

As the year draws to a close, the Lord is repeating His call. A call to come deeper still. Another invitation is being extended. His desire that He might refill me with His Spirit, renew me with His love, refresh me with His presence, refocus my priorities, revive my heart, restore my vision, and remove sinful thoughts and ways. He is calling me to walk closer, dig deeper, pause longer and with an unhurried heart, pray more.

We all need regular, repeated times of rest, refreshment and renewal. Life can rob us of life and we need to retreat into Christ. To the extent that we live in His presence, we are filled with His joy.

Just as God told Noah to build, Daniel to pray, Jonah to go, Joshua to march, Rahab to hide, Moses to leave, His call to us is come.

We first come to Him through our response to His invitation of salvation, but then we keep coming. As God continues to extend a welcome, we come to the manger, come to a further place of surrender, come in repentance and confession of daily sins, come to confidence in His promises, come to listening to His heartbeat, come to a deeper obedience, come to trust His plans, come kneeling before the King of Kings and LORD of Lords, come to a life of praise, come to being held in His embrace. After the initial "come to Me", there are continual "come with Me" requests as God leads us into all He has designed for us before the world was made. Coming with Him we encounter His grace, His forgiveness, His mercy, His love, His sovereignty, His sufficiency and we look with awe as we walk with the Creator of our hearts.

I encourage us all to keep answering the call to a daily, momentary rapture through intentional time with the Lord as He beckons, "come with Me".

*Hymn: "From Every Stormy Wind That Blows"; written by Hugh Stowell; composer Thomas Hastings; copyright 1828, from "The Winter's Wreath".