{"id":650,"date":"2017-03-09T06:33:12","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T11:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/?p=650"},"modified":"2017-03-08T21:07:36","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T02:07:36","slug":"pressing-on-we-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/pressing-on-we-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Pressing On We Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Seek<\/a><\/p>\n

Those who follow my blog know that one of my favorite books is John Bunyan\u2019s The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress<\/em>. I have read it numerous times and am writing a commentary on the book, A Guide to John Bunyan\u2019s The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress<\/em><\/a>. On occasion, I have woven the themes and imagery from Bunyan\u2019s allegory into hymns I have written. These include \u201cLooking Always Unto Jesus<\/a>,\u201d \u201cCome Enter By the Narrow Gate<\/a>\u201d and \u201cA Prayer for Pilgrims<\/a>.\u201d This new hymn also draws from Bunyan\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

In Matthew 6 Jesus teaches us not to be anxious for tomorrow, but to place our trust in Him, seeking first His Kingdom and His righteousness:<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, \u201cWhat shall we eat?\u201d or \u201cWhat shall we drink?\u201d or \u201cWhat shall we wear?\u201d For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble (Matthew 6:25\u201334).<\/p>\n

We will never find joy and contentment in this life apart from Christ and His righteousness. There are two great enemies of joy and contentment: regret and worry. Regret keeps us from joy in the present by fixating on the past\u2014which we cannot change and is over. Worry keeps us from joy in the present by fixating on the future\u2014which we cannot control and is uncertain. The gospel sets us free from both. We trust Christ, knowing that our sins are forgiven and our future rests in the hands of a loving and merciful God. We can press on in new mercies every day knowing that He will provide all we need to reach our journey\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

Pressing On, We Journey<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBut seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
\nand all these things will be added to you\u201d (Matthew 6:33).<\/p>\n

Christ our greatest treasure,
\nHe our highest aim!
\nChrist our deepest comfort,
\nHim we now acclaim!
\nBy His death, He saved us,
\nBy His life, we live.
\nTo the King of glory,
\nAll our lives we give.<\/p>\n

Pressing on, we journey,
\nChrist we now confess,
\nSeeking first His kingdom
\nAnd His righteousness.<\/p>\n

Rescued from destruction,
\nTold to seek the light;
\nPulled up from the mire,
\nFitted for the fight.
\nChrist, in every instance
\nGuides us in the Way,
\nGraciously providing
\nMercies every day.<\/p>\n

Pressing on, we journey,
\nPilgrims we progress,
\nSeeking first His kingdom
\nAnd His righteousness.<\/p>\n

Fret not for tomorrow,
\nFear not past regrets.
\nHe heals every sorrow,
\nSure the course He sets.
\nAll these things are added,
\nWhat to eat and wear;
\nAll our needs provided,
\nBy His loving care.<\/p>\n

Pressing on, we journey,
\nJoys we now possess,
\nSeeking first His kingdom
\nAnd His righteousness.<\/p>\n

We long for that day when
\nWe\u2019ll see face to face
\nChrist, the King of Glory,
\nFull of truth and grace.
\nBut until that moment,
\nFinally He descends,
\nWe will ever seek Him,
\nFaithful to the end.<\/p>\n

Pressing on, we journey,
\nHope we now express,
\nSeeking first His kingdom
\nAnd His righteousness<\/p>\n

Words \u00a92017 Ken Puls<\/p>\n

Download the lyrics and free sheet music<\/a> for this hymn, including an arrangement of the tune WYE VALLEY for classical guitar.<\/p>\n

Find More Hymns and Song<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those who follow my blog know that one of my favorite books is John Bunyan\u2019s The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress. I have read it numerous times and am writing a commentary on the book, A Guide to John Bunyan\u2019s The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress. On occasion, I have woven the themes and imagery from Bunyan\u2019s allegory into hymns I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,142,22],"tags":[61,15,98,12,93,32,11],"class_list":["post-650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hymn","category-lyric-print","category-music-for-worship","tag-delight-in-christ","tag-gospel","tag-hymn","tag-john-bunyan","tag-kingdom-of-god","tag-perseverance","tag-pilgrims-progress"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lLgO-au","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":653,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650\/revisions\/653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}