I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go, Dear Lord

All scripture references are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
There is another older chorus that I have loved and which we used to sing a lot in Bible College. The words, as I recall, go something like this;
     I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,
     I'll Sing what you want me to sing.
     I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord,
     I'll be what you want me to be.

"I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go, Dear Lord..."
That is a powerful commitment, those are powerful words, if you mean them. Throughout my 48+ years of living for the Lord Jesus, I think I can honestly say that I have meant them. Oh, I don't claim to have lived a perfect life. But I can honestly say that my desire has always been to do and say the things that please the Lord Jesus Christ. That is really the only reason we are in Sedona, Arizona. 

The Bible says in Colossians 3:17, "And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him." This was probably one of the first passages of scripture I learned by heart. And I have tried to do, in word and deed, all things in Jesus name. Sometimes I feel like Job of old must have felt when he was accused of sin by his "miserable comforters." (See Job 16:2) Job did not understand why the things that had happened in his life had happened. He only knew that whatever else, he would be justified when he stood before God. He said in Job 27:3-6, "All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils; My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit. God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast, and I will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live." I really think this was the the crux of Job's argument. I may also feel like Job did in Job 40:4, when, after hearing God speak he said, "Behold I am vile, what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth." Yet I will maintain my integrity before the Lord Jesus till I die.

"I'll sing what you want me to sing..."
I really do love many if not most of the older songs and choruses. That is not to say that I dislike all the newer ones. I don't! Its just that some of the older ones really speak to my heart and as a result I can sing them from my heart. 

The Bible does say in Psalm 96:1a, "O sing unto the LORD a new song..." And in Psalms 98:1, 144:9, 149:1, and Isaiah 42:10, we are told to "...sing unto the LORD a new song..." You ought to read every one of the passages listed above. But when I was 23 years old and had just turned to the Lord Jesus, all the songs and choruses were new to me. I still love those older songs, They still thrill my soul. I am made to think of the song, "All That Thrills My Soul is Jesus..." written by Bro. Thoro Harris, an early Oneness Pentecostal adherent. Truly, all that does thrill my soul today is still the Lord Jesus. He truly is more than life to me.

"I'll say what you want me to say, dear Lord..."
Years ago, in Yankton, South Dakota, I put an ad in the local newspaper that said something like this, "Nowhere in the Bible was anyone ever baptized in the titles, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but they were always baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." The ad only ran one week but we got feedback from it for about four weeks. Much of it negative! I remember one caller who asked me why I wanted to stir up trouble and suggested that I go out and demonstrate against the war in Viet Nam. My response to him was that God had called me to preach the gospel. But what shall a preacher preach, if not the Word of God? The Bible says in Psalm 33:4 that, "the Word of the Lord is right; and all His works are done in truth." It is only by the Word of God that we can know how to be saved! It is only by the Word of God that we can know that the name of Jesus Christ is the only name, "given under heaven whereby we must be saved." (See Acts 4:12) The Bible says in 2nd Timothy 4:12, "Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine..."

"I'll be what you want me to be..."
Another older chorus I really liked when I first heard it was, 
     Wherever I am I'll praise Him, whenever I can I'll praise Him,
     For His love surrounds me like the sea.
     I'll praise the name of Jesus, lift up the name of Jesus,
     For the name of Jesus lifted me.
In 1st Timothy 4:12, the Apostle Paul exhorted Timothy his son in the gospel, "Let no man despise thy youth; (I am no longer a youth) but be thou an example of the believers  in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." I really do want to be what the Lord Jesus want me to be! How about you?