I Am Resolved

     I love that old hymn "I Am Resolved" and it became so real to me this past week. Within hours of each other, I had two women confide in me that they felt very alone because they were doing what God wanted them to do and others had shunned them. The first woman shared with me that she was being critized by someone because she had told them that she got excited at church and that she clapped her hands and praised the Lord. This person told her that she shouldn't be doing that at church and that she was wrong to do so. (can you just imagine???) Needless to say I shared with this woman that clapping her hands and praising the Lord was in the Word and that God asks us to praise Him with everything we have. I then shared with her that sometimes, especially when we are in God's will, doing things His way, we will have opposition and persecution but that we have to stand strong and be resolved to keep doing things God's way.
     The next woman the Lord laid on my heart to contact her which I did via email. I emailed her and told her that the Lord had laid her on my heart and that I was praying for her. She promptly responded saying that she needed prayer because she was following the Word and getting opposition because of her stand. (Did I ever tell you I don't believe in coincidence?) I encouraged her with the hymn "I Am Resolved" and encouraged her to keep standing on the Word and trusting God.
     We may be the only ones around us who are standing on the Word, who are trusting God, who are seeking His will over our own. Maybe we are the only one calling sin, SIN. Maybe we are the only one who is trying to live a holy life which is pleasing to God. We might feel all alone but we aren't. He is with us. Sometimes we have to take a stand and stand up for what is right. Ephesians 6:13 says: "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." I particulary like the last line "and after you have done everything, to stand". Sometimes we have to be the ones to take a stand even if we stand alone.
    The words of that beautiful old hymn go like this:
I am resolved no longer to linger,
Charmed by the world’s delight,
Things that are higher, things that are nobler,
These have allured my sight.

Refrain

I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free;
Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.
I will hasten, hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free;
Jesus, Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.

I am resolved to go to the Savior,
Leaving my sin and strife;
He is the true One, He is the just One,
He hath the words of life.

I am resolved to follow the Savior,
Faithful and true each day;
Heed what He sayeth, do what He willeth,
He is the living Way.

I am resolved to enter the kingdom
Leaving the paths of sin;
Friends may oppose me, foes may beset me,
Still will I enter in.

I am resolved, and who will go with me?
Come, friends, without delay,
Taught by the Bible, led by the Spirit,
We’ll walk the heav’nly way.

The words of that fourth verse are my favourites. "I am RESOLVED (determined, stubbornly fixed) to enter the kingdom" "Friends may oppose me (and sometimes they do), foes may beset me (yes, they will), still will I enter in". It talks of such strength of conviction. It talks about the convictions we need to have. I am resolved, I will enter the kingdom.
     If you are feeling like you are standing alone, be encouraged. There are others out there who want to follow the Bible too. There are those who are trying each day to live a Christ like example to this sinful world. There are others who want to let their light shine so to speak. You are not alone. The Word promises that you are not:
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Heb.12:1